


The New World of Remnant

by Jevil_Joss



Category: RWBY
Genre: Many many spoilers for first 6 seasons, Point of View, Redemption, Set after the series ends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 07:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20775131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jevil_Joss/pseuds/Jevil_Joss
Summary: After Salem was defeated and Beacon recreated, Oscar Pines attempts to teach a new generation of Huntsmen.





	1. Prologue

Ruby Rose stood at the edge of the world. Below a lake full of black liquid swirled. 

"Ruby?" a sleepy voice asked. She turned to look at her friend, Jaune Arc. He rubbed his head. "Why...why are up in the middle of the night?"

"Couldn't sleep," Ruby replied, looking back over the lake. 

"Um...should you be standing so close to that?" Jaune asked, pointing at the lake. "You saw what happened to Salem."

"Is she doing alright?" 

"From what I saw," Jaune replied. "After you...well, after you fixed her, she seemed stunned, but fine." 

"Ah." 

"Still. What are you doing _here_?"

Ruby knelt down, staring into the gaping abyss. Across the lake, a Beowulf crawled forth from a puddle, snarling. It looked at them. Ruby gazed back as it wandered off. "What's going to happen now?" she asked. "Without anyone leading them in assault, will there be a need for huntsmen anymore?"

"There's probably always going to be some need for huntsmen," Jaune replied. He stood just behind Ruby, watching the pool while standing back. "Always going to be some Grimm attacking. Now it's just not as much of a threat."

"Hmm. Wait, do you here something?" Ruby stopped and listened. 

"Is that...a crying baby?" Jaune asked. He drew his sword, unsure of what was happening but suspecting a trap. Ruby stood up, looking at a pool of black water. Washing out of it was a small wicker basket. Ruby walked slowly forward, watching everything around her, her scythe out. She stood next to the basket, listening to the crying for a minute. Then, she sat down next to it, moving aside the blanket that covered it. 

Inside was a small, crying baby, but unlike any baby Ruby had seen. It had black skin and small white spikes sticking from its shoulder, and a small poof of red hair coming from its head. It stopped crying, looking at Ruby with two large red eyes. It sniffled. 

"Well, holy son of a bitch," Ruby said quietly. She reached out and touched the baby's cheek. In its small, chubby hands, it grasped her finger. It gazed at her with its big eyes. 

"A...baby?" Jaune asked. 

Ruby smiled at the baby. It giggled. "Aw."

**18 years later...**

The airbus landed on the landing pad. The ramp fell down, and new first-time students for the only recently recreated Beacon Academy flooded out. 

Ashlynn Fall strode out of the ramp--a tall eighteen-year old, her black hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore cargo pants, white undershirt, and red jacket. She looked around at everyone. "Wow. That's not as many people as I thought."

Emerald, her adopted mother, put a hand on her shoulder. "I'd have thought more people would have come too, but, well, not many people are living in Vale again. People are still distrustful about it. A lot of people remember the Fall of Beacon."

"Well, I, for one, am looking forward to making new friends!" Ashlynn took a confident step forward, then rammed right into one of the other students. Both tumbled to the ground in a heap. 

"Are you two okay?" Emerald asked, rushing over. 

"I'm fine," Ashlynn said, jumping to her feet. She extended a hand to the other girl--a woman in a red shirt and skirt and black pants with a head full of fuzzy yellow hair. She took Ashlynn's hand. 

"I'm okay," she affirmed. "I'm fine." She chuckled. "I, uh, should have looked where I was going, sorry. Uh, Sunny Rose. You?"

"Ashlynn Fall," Ashlynn replied, shaking Rose's hand. 

"Emerald Sustrai," Emerald added. She extended a hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

Rose shook it. "Hey, that name sounds familiar. Have I heard of you before?"

"Hmm...Rose, right? Would your mother be Ruby Rose?" Rose nodded. "She might have mentioned me. We used to know each other."

"Ah. That's probably it." Rose looked the two of them over. "Well, um, should we be going anywhere?"

Emerald pointed. "Into the entrance hall. Oscar said he had a speech prepared in his letter."

"Ah. We should go there," Ashlynn said. "You coming?" she asked Emerald. 

"Uh...I'll...stay back for now. Once Oscar's done with orientation and stuff, he said he wanted to talk to me." Emerald frowned. "You two head on in." She hugged Ashlynn one last time. "Be safe."

"Probably not an option, but I'll try," Ashlynn replied. She turned to Rose. "Uh...walk with me?"

Rose shrugged. "Not really anywhere else to go." The two began walking. "Say, I notice you're not carrying a weapon. What do you use?"

Ashlynn patted her jacket. "Dust crystals embedded in my jacket."

"Awesome," Rose replied. She pulled out a sheathed sword. "I use this."

"Cool sword."

"Yeah." Rose twirled it, a fancy green-and-gray blade. "Mom said that it used to belong to a friend of hers. I asked one time, she didn't answer, and I, uh, didn't ask again." Rose chuckled nervously, sheathing the blade. "I call it 'Sun Strike'."

"Wow." Ashlynn looked up at the stone gateway of Beacon Academy. And thus she rammed into her second person that day--except that this one wore slate reflective armor and a jacket over it. Ashlynn bounced right off and landed on her back. "Ack!" 

"You alright?" a muffled voice asked. Ashlynn looked up at the woman she ran into--she wore a scarf thickly wrapped around her head, long sleeves, and thick gloves. She extended one hand to help Ashlynn up. 

"Yeah." Ashlynn took the hand. "I figure I might want to get used to running into people."

"Probably not," the woman reaffirmed. she dusted herself off. 

"I'm Sunny Rose," Rose introduced, extending a hand to the woman. "Armora Gigas," the stranger replied, shaking the hand. 

"Ashlynn," Ashlynn introduced. Armora nodded at her. None of her face was visible save for her two bright red eyes, and she carried a massive broadsword across her back. "You said Rose, right? As in, Ruby Rose?"

"I get that a lot," Rose replied. "Yes."

"Huh. She your mother?"

"Yes."

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted. A tall man strode over. "You happen to be standing in the doorway."

"Oh, sorry," Rose apologized, backing out of the way. Ashlynn quickly stepped aside as Armora said, "Sorry, Professor Pines."

Oscar Pines looked at her. "Armora. Have you been doing well?"

"Yeah."

"You're Professor Oscar Pines?" Ashlynn asked. 

"Yes, I am." The professor nodded at her, straightening his green coat. "You'd be Ashlynn Fall, right? Is your mother here?"

"Umm...yeah? She's waiting for the orientation to be over."

"Ah. Of course. Polite, as always." He looked to Rose. "Sunny Rose. You're...taller than I remember."

"I am?"

"Considering last time we met, you were a baby, yes," Oscar laughed. He smiled at the three of them. "I feel like you three will get along. Now if you excuse me, I have a speech to give." He walked past them, cane tapping against the floor. 

"Guess we should take positions," Rose said. The other two nodded, taking spots in the crowd. 

Ozpin rose up and stood on the podium. "I cannot say how much it pleases me to say, 'welcome to Beacon'. Indeed, it has been too long since students have walked these halls. A few special thanks go to a few friends of mine for their help, namely Glynda Goodwitch, Mercury Black, and Qrow Branwen. Unfortunately, none of them could make the time to be here today, but their work will not go unremembered.

"As for the rest, our goal here at Beacon is to train you all to become the best huntsmen possible, and we only have four years to do it. It will not all be fun and games, and the boring work still needs to be done." He chuckled. "But it won't all be boring. At the end of the month, we will be hoping a dance in celebration. You will also be divided into teams, but, more on that tomorrow.

"And finally, let me introduce a few important people. Teachers first. Teaching advanced combat, welcome Blake Belladonna, and for history, her wife, Yang Xiao Long." Two people walked up next to him--one in a white overcoat, with two cat ears poking up from her black hair, the other in a brown trench coat and a massive pile of yellow hair. Yang waved to the students. Blake simply nodded, her yellow eyes piercing the crowd. 

The assembled students clapped loudly. "Isn't she your aunt?" Armora asked Rose. 

Rose nodded. "Yeah. She doesn't come around much anymore, though."

"Next up, teaching Grimm anatomy...my long time friend, Salem McArthur."

More applause as a woman in a half-black, half white coat. Her blonde hair tied back in a pony tail. Two red eyes looked over the classroom. 

Rose immediately felt a twinge in her. Some, deep, inner part of her told her to run. She felt that whatever happened, she would be seeing too much of Salem McArthur. 


	2. Initiate

Emerald stepped off the lift into Oscar's office. Blake and Yang stood on opposite sides of his desk. Emerald looked up, seeing gears twist and turn through a glass roof. "That's probably not safe," she commented. 

Oscar looked up through the roof. "I like it. I find clockwork...comforting." He looked around at the three of them. 

"Why'd you call me?" Emerald asked. "I mean, honestly, I'm kinda thrilled to be here, but still. I'm...not sure I..."

"It's Cinder." 

Emerald snapped her gaze to Oscar. "What?"

"Cinder is back," Oscar stated. "She was spotted robbing an ATM."

"After everything else she's done, robbing an ATM is the least worrying thing she could have done," Yang commented. 

"Okay. What are we going to do?"

"For now? Cinder hasn't made any aggressive moves besides robbing an ATM in twenty years. I feel like we should be worrying about our other problems. Blake?"

"While doing some scouting on the way here, I happened to see this guy," Blake said, getting right to the point. She moved from her standing position to put her scroll on the desk. She tapped a button and it displayed an image of a man in gold and black armor sneakily crawling through trees. His helmet had a few spikes coming from the back of it, and he had a black cape and a gigantic broadsword on his back. His helmet had only one eye hole, and no other indentations. 

Then Emerald caught it. 

"Did you notice what he's doing?" she asked. Everyone looked at her. Emerald walked up to the desk, pointing at the image. "He's camouflaging himself. The armor changes color depending upon what he's standing next to." She looked at Blake. "Did you take a video?"

"No. I only had time for a few pictures before he tried attacking me. I figured it wise to retreat before I fought something I didn't know anything about."

Emerald turned to the image. "That means he can change the color of his armor."

"Semblance?" Yang asked. 

"Possibly," Blake answered. Emerald scratched her chin. "This guy...do we know anything about him?"

Oscar looked at the image. "He...looks familiar. I might have seen a picture or something somewhere, while going through Ozpin's notes."

"What makes you so sure it was in his notes?" Yang asked. 

"Because I also noticed something that no one else did," Oscar replied. He pointed at the tree next to the armored figure. "See that symbol he's scratching into the tree? That's the Grimm sign."

"Gods dammit," a new voice chimed in. Everyone turned as a figure in a black-and-white coat exited the elevator. Salem put a hand on her hips. "I know who that is. Powerful Grimm. Most Grimm refer to him as Ashtimok--roughly translated, 'Nameless Blade'. Humans and Faunus call him 'the False Savior'. Both fit."

"Who is he?" Blake asked. Emerald took a hurried step back as Salem walked towards the desk, glaring down at the image. 

"Older than I am. He commanded the Grimm in the time of the gods." Salem rubbed her forehead. "After they left, and I took charge, he didn't seem to happy. This is the first time I've seen him since humanity re-evolved." She looked around. "That means this guy is a problem."

"We got that," Oscar replied. 

"The problem we should also consider is what's causing him to make his move," Salem stated. She turned and walked around the desk, plopping herself in a seat beside Oscar. 

"Ahem. In the grand scheme of the planet, twenty years isn't too much--but it also happens to be the time since Armora was born," Blake said. 

"So it is," Salem replied. "But Grimm can feel it whenever another Grimm is born. He's known about her for twenty years. In his mind, the problem probably lies with her going to Beacon. He always believed that Grimm and humans should be kept separate."

"What needs to be done now?" Yang asked. 

"I've called Ren and Nora here--I want everyone possible to come." Oscar looked around the room. "Nora and Ren are coming. Weiss is held up by family issues, but is coming when possible. Ironwood said he'd come. But as for Ruby and Jaune..." He stopped. "I called them two weeks ago. I haven't gotten any response. I feel it unlikely that anyone could kill them, but even so, feel like something came up--something bad. I think something more than the Blade and Cinder are coming up."

Everyone nodded. 

"Yang, Blake...please help keep my students safe," Oscar pleaded. "I...I don't want to lose any more to criminal minds."

"Is that why you called us here?" Yang asked. "To fight your wars again?" She scoffed. Blake looked at her. "Yang?"

"Forget it, Oz." Yang spun around. "I don't fight anymore. I haven't in a long time." She walked into the elevator. 

"Finish without me," Blake said. "I'm going to go talk to her." Blake followed Yang into the elevator. 

"One big dorm room, eh?" Rose asked. She rolled out a mattress to sleep on. 

"Looks like," Ashlynn replied. She turned to Armora. "Are you...really going to sleep in that?" 

Armora had neglected changing into pajamas, still wearing her armor and scarf that covered all of her skin. "I...have skin problems," she confessed. 

"Won't you overheat?" Rose asked. She fluffed out her pillow, frowning at the limp sack. 

"Uh...no, not really."

"But...that's heavy winter gear," Ashlynn told her. 

"..."

"Would you mind keeping it down?" a voice snapped. A rabbit ear poked out from a nearby mattress. An angry looking woman sat up. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

Armora sat down. "Sorry."

The woman looked at her. "Um...are you okay?"

Armora looked at her. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well, um, one of my mom's friends taught me how to sense Aura, but yours is...off."

"Huh." Armora looked at her. "M'names Armora."

"Ryn. Ryn Scarlatina."

"Good night, Ryn."

"Good night, Armora."

"You might be wondering how teams work," Oscar said. They stood at the edge of a cliff. The students all stood on platforms. Ryn looked to her right. Sunny Rose had an abundant supply of Aura--she had a strong soul. She breathed in, then slashed outwards with her sword, sheathing it again in an eye blink. Behind her, Ashlynn stood calmly, breathing in and out. Dust floated in circles around her head. 

Ryn looked to her left. 

There was no denying it. Whatever was going on, Armora Gigas had no Aura. She had no soul. She also had red eyes and wore clothing that covered every inch of skin. She stood, leaning slightly backwards on her broadsword. But no light shined around her body. No soul protected her. 

Ryn stopped. Peeking slightly out of her scar, from her cheek...a small, white spike? 

"We will be doing this the traditional way," Oscar continued. Salem smiled as she stood next to him. "Your team mate will be with you for the next four years, taking tests with you, fighting with you, living with you. It is vitally important you end up with someone you like on your team. That being said, your team mate..." He smiled maliciously. "...will be the next person you make eye contact with after landing."

"Excuse me," Rose said, holding up a hand. "What if I climb up the cliff and make eye contact with you?"

Oscar blinked. "That being said, your team mate will be the next _student_ you make eye contact with after landing." He gave Rose a sharp look. 

"Aw," Rose said, kicking a nearby rock off the cliff. 

"I like her," Salem said. Ryn looked at Salem. She had an Aura. Oscar's was exceptionally strong--stronger than Rose's--and Salem's...

Salem's was rather weak, all things considered. 

"So...when you say landing...you mean like...from an Airbus?" Ashlynn asked, holding her eyes. 

"I will launch you all off the cliff, one at a time," Oscar explained. The metal platform at the far right launched a student off the cliff. 

Ashlynn watched for a second. "That seems kind of irresponsible," she pointed out. 

"Duly noted," Oscar replied. "Anything else? Miss Rose?"

"What if I don't make eye contact with anyone? Or do the whole thing with my eyes closed?" Rose asked as the next student was launched. 

"If you manage to make your way through a Grimm-filled forest, pick up a Relic, and bring it back with your eyes closed, I will give you praise, then immediately expel you," Oscar replied with a glare. 

Rose saluted as she was launched off. Ryn thought back to earlier that morning, when Salem had explained their initiation. 

She'd left out the thousand-foot-drop. From what Ryn had seen, she couldn't tell whether or not it was intentional. She gave one last look to Armora before she was launched off. 

Sunny Rose flung through the air. She pulled out her sword, grappling a tree and spinning around it, sliding her way down. She hit the ground, sheathing her sword and rising. "Hell yeah."

Ashlynn Fall skipped lightly off a tree branch. She jumped from branch to branch, landing on the ground quickly and efficiently. She jumped up, dusting herself off. "Let's do this."

Armora Gigas didn't really care about 'landing strategies'. So when she hit the top of the tree, she didn't care. It fell over, and she flung off. She pointed her feet at the ground, using friction to slide herself to a stop. 

Ryn Scarlatina pulled out her weapon--a knife and grappling hook. She hooked her way around a tree, slung herself into the air, then caught and pulled herself to another tree, sliding down it to the ground. Bark fell to the ground as she began thinking. _He didn't say anything about deliberately not making eye contact with people until I find a good partner. But I don't know anyone...Okay. I want someone good at combat, but also likable. Sunny or Ashlynn? I only just met them..._

A twig snapped. Ryn spun around, and met eye contact with Armora Gigas. "Hey," the latter said. "Guess we're partners now?"

Ryn immediately began mentally kicking herself. "Uh...I guess?"

"Cool." Armora looked around. "Do you know which way to the Relics?"

"Nope." _She doesn't have Aura...should I ask her about it? Would that be rude?_

"Why are you staring at me?" Armora asked, looking sharply at her. 

"It's...um...you've got something on your cheek." Armora frowned in confusion, touching her cheek. "Did I get it?"

"No..." 

Armora touched the small white spike peeking out of her scarf. Nonchalantly, she pulled her scarf up over it. Without saying anything, she turned and began walking into the forest. "I'm going to assume they're probably somewhere in the opposite direction of the cliff."

Ryn blinked, then ran to catch up with Armora. "Um...You don't have an Aura."

"So, I believe, you've mentioned."

"You're clothing covers the entirety of your skin."

"Skin condition."

"Your eyes are bright red."

"And?"

"You had a bone sticking out of your cheek."

"...bad skin condition?"

Ryn jumped in front of Armora. "Explain. Now."

"I would...but I don't want to." Armora replied, giving Ryn a look. She stepped around Ryn, continuing walking. 

"Are you a Grimm?" Ryn asked. 

Armora swiveled around, looking at Ryn. "What."

Ryn raised an eyebrow. 

"How the fuck did you--"

"It wasn't that hard," Ryn asked. Armora paused, then removed the scarf. Her skin was black, and multiple white spikes stuck from her forehead and cheeks, and one covered her nose. She'd tied her red hair into a pony tail. She looked at the scarf, then looked at Ryn. "I ask again. How the fuck did you figure it out?"

"You slept in a suit of body armor," Ryn pointed out. "You have no Aura--thus no soul. Your eyes are a bright, vibrant red. Also, you swiveled around when I called you on it."

"Wait..."

Ryn grinned, walking past Armora. "I guessed."

Armora gave her a look of utter bafflement. "I'm going to point out, you would have looked so stupid had you been wrong."

Ryn shrugged. "So...explanations?"

Armora cocked her head. "Um...after. For now..."

Quick as a flash, she spun around, skewering a Beowulf against a tree. The wolf disappeared. "...we've got company."

Rose leapt over a fallen tree--it looked like some of her fellow students had been aggressive with their landing strategies--and looked around. "Alright, Rose. You need a team mate--someone you know and like. Maybe Armora? She seemed tough...and likable. I don't know Ryn...hmm...who else do I know?"

"The name 'Ashlynn' sounds familiar," Ashlynn said, walking over. Rose turned and looked at her. "Oh. Hi."

Ashlynn smiled and waved. 

"So...east?" 

"That's back to the cliff," Rose pointed out. "So...that a-way!" She pointed dramatically into the forest. 

"That's east," Ashlynn replied. 

Rose looked at her. 

"Right. We're going this way." Ashlynn said pointing. 

"Since we're going to be fighting together a lot, how exactly does that dust thing work?" Rose asked. 

"Hmm..." Ashlynn stepped over the tree. "Well, I can create weapons out of it, as long as I keep some spare. My Semblance allows me to levitate crystals...including Dust. So that's useful. I use it for throwing fire, lightning, ice...it's a variable attack strategy. I can pick a different strategy for different opponents."

"Wow." Rose drew her sword, giving it a few light swings. "My Semblance allows me to channel my Aura through my weapon."

"Can't everyone do that?" Ashlynn asked. 

Rose laughed. "Oh. Not like I can. Oh. My Semblance also has loose definitions of what defines a weapon--I used it on a stick one time."

"Yeah, but what's it do?"

Rose sighed. "You'll have to wait and see. It spends my Aura, so I can't use it for examples."

"Ah." 

"But to maximize effect, I found a special style of swordplay called iaijutsu." Rose sheathed her sword, then quickly drew it out again. "But my Semblance can be slow to engage sometimes."

"How slow, because I'm probably about to see it," Ashlynn asked, nodding towards the surrounding Beowulves. 

"I thought you didn't really see a lot of Grimm anymore," Rose said, "at least not in one group."

"Yeah." 

Rose sheathed her sword, then engaged her Semblance. Her veins glowed yellow, a bright gold flaring in intricate patterns through her skin. Then, she pulled out and slashed with her sword. A gold burst of power slashed outwards, cutting through half the Beowulves in one swoop. 

Ashlynn threw some dust crystals into the air, sending them flying at the remaining Beowulves. 

"You know, after everything that we've been told happened at the Fall of Beacon, these guys just aren't that scary anymore," Rose said calmly, sheathing her sword. 

"Yeah," Ashlynn agreed. "C'mon. Let's find ourselves a Relic. I wonder if Armora's having trouble..."

Ryn slashed through the Beowulf's throat, spinning around it and ending on its back. She threw her grappling hook, skewering it in another Beowulf's head, then pulled herself into it, kicking it backwards, spinning towards and stabbing the next Grimm. 

Armora dropped her own Beowulf corpse to the ground. "Nothing too much. Just Beowulves. However, it takes forever to take 'em on with heavy weapons. Thanks." 

"No problem." Ryn paused for a second. "Hey, if you're a Grimm, why are you killing Beowulves?"

Armora looked to the disintegrating corpses. "They're...different than me. Like, I can talk and hold a conversation with you. Same with Deathstalkers--if you knew their language, you could hold a pretty interesting conversation with one. These guys...they're less intelligent with wolves, cause at least wolves can think through their actions. They can't. I don't know why."

Ryn stabbed a bat into a tree. The small Grimm screeched at her, fading and disappearing. 

"Criers," Ryn growled. 

"These guys are good to kill, too," Armora replied. 

A small swarm of Criers flew forward, snapping and biting. Ryn cried out, slashing outwards, killing a few. Armora pulled out her sword, turning it into a shotgun. She fired, blowing a large hole in the swarm of bats. Reloading, she fired several more times. Ryn spun backwards out of the swarm, then watched as they flew away. 

"Eh?" She looked at Armora. Armora reloaded with a shrug, an empty bullet casing falling to the ground. "Something must have scared 'em. Probably a Deathstalker or King Taijitu."

"We ought to be careful then," Ryn replied. 

"Eh. I can probably talk us out of conflict with a Deathstalker, but Taijitu's are more like Beowulves," Armora said. The two began walking again, sheathing their weapons. 

Behind them, a bush detached itself from a tree and landed in a crouch. The gold-and-black clad figure rose to its feet, one single eye staring after them. Then, the armor faded to a muted green and brown as he slunk back into the trees. 

Ashlynn stepped into a clearing. "Aha. This would appear to be it." She walked forward confidently. In the center of the clearing was a large circular stone structure filled with pedestals. On each pedestal sat a playing card. 

"Face cards?" Rose asked. 

"Some are missing. We weren't the first here."

"Jack of hearts?" Rose suggested. 

"Guess it doesn't matter, but sure," Ashlynn replied. Rose felt the card. "Huh. These aren't normal playing cards. Made of...sheet metal?"

"Is this it?" Ryn asked. She surveyed the crack in the stone wall. A ton of boulders had fallen around it. It appeared to have once been a much longer entrance, but an avalanche blocked most of it off. 

"Probably." Armora moved a boulder, sliding through. "Not even a tight fit. Eh...?" She jumped back out of the crack. "Something's in there." Ryn peeked in. "I don't see..." She reached out, feeling for Aura. She closed her eyes. Small bugs crawled along the side of the tunnel. A worm wriggled through a crack. Then...an empty, hollow void--the characteristic lack of a soul that all Grimm shared. 

All Grimm...except Armora. Frowning, Ryn stepped back. "There's a Grimm in there." 

Armora peeked in, calling out in the Grimm's tongue. "_Hello! Who goes there?_"

"Excuse me? What are you saying?" Ryn asked. 

"Saying hello. Shush." Armora cleared her throat. "_Excuse me? Anyone there?_" She jumped out of the way as a claw swung out, dug through the dirt, and pulled back into the tunnel. 

An echoing, spine-chilling rattle sounded from the tunnel. A rasping, gasping growl of warning. Ryn and Armora walked back from the tunnel as two hands reached out and grabbed each side of the tunnel. The hands were long and thin, ending in two giant claws. 

Then a second pair of claws reached out and and felt across the ground. The Grimm itself slunk out. It stood around eight foot tall, but it was as thin as a lamp post. It had two pairs of arms, and two long, skinny legs, ending in two claws sticking in front of it, and one claw sticking behind it. It had no stomach to speak of, simply a line of flesh connecting its hips to its chest. Then there was its head. It had a small, ovular head, but it was mostly mouth--a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. It had two small, beady red eyes, and two fish-like ears pointing backwards. The ears swiveled, it rasped again, growling. 

"Oh! It's a Lamprey," Armora said. 

"A what?" 

"Rare kind of Grimm. Usually only found near the sea." It roared facing them. "Oh. Also, blind, uses echo-location, and incredibly pissed off for no foreseeable reason." The creature walked forward on its legs and one pair of hands. "Bastard." Armora jumped forward, swinging hard with her sword. It blocked with a hand. 

One hand. Using one hand, it blocked the heavy, two-handed broadsword attack. Armora bounced backwards, stumbling. "Okay. That's bullshit." She jumped backwards as it attacked, several hands grabbing and slashing at her. 

"We don't need to fight it. We just need to go and get the Relics," Ryn pointed out. 

"Probably not inside the cave," Armora ascertained. The Lamprey screamed, looking straight at them. "Right. Run!" 

The two bolted away from it as it charged after them. After the area had cleared out, a figure stepped on top of the rubble in front of the tunnel. The Nameless Blade landed, looking after the two students. Then, he turned around and walked into the tunnel. 


	3. The Heart of the Emerald Forest

The Nameless Blade, the False Savior, walked through puddles of water. Almost as an afterthought, he camouflaged his armor. He didn't think anything was done here...anything that used sight, anyway. There were definitely still guardians in this place--this ancient, sacred place. 

He lightly tapped his right shoulder with his left hand. He didn't have time for any of the other rites--he hoped that the gods were forgiving about that. He turned a corner into a large, circular chamber. The walls were covered with images of humans and Grimm battling. The entire room was a set of steps up to the center of the room, where a small, green gem sat on a pedestal. 

"_What are you doing Blade?"_ a voice hissed. Circling around the opposite side of the room was a cloaked figure. It was using a rapier as a cane, wore a feathered hat, and, like the Lamprey that had recently vacated the cave, had a large face. A small, cross pendant sat on its neck. "_This is not your place."_

_"I am sorry, Prophet. This is what must be done." _ The Blade began walking up the steps. The Prophet walked up the steps as well. Both ended up on opposite sides of the pedestal. The green gem hovered between them. 

"_I did not give this gem up for Salem, and I won't give it up for you either,"_ the Prophet hissed. He pointed the Rapier at the Blade. The Blade drew his broadsword, tossing it and catching it with one hand. 

"_And I did not give in to Salem, nor shall I give in to you._" The Blade looked at the Prophet. 

The Prophet lunged. The Blade blocked, backing down the steps as he parried the attacks. In terms of speed, the Prophet had the advantage. The Prophet also had the terrain advantage--he was used to fighting in knee-deep water. 

He was not used to the Blade's persistence. The Blade shoved backwards against the Prophet's rapier. The Prophet, foolishly, tried to shove back, and was hurled backwards from it. The Blade had more physical strength, and the heavier weapon. "_You have not fought someone on your level in a while,_" the Blade said. He lunged forward, crashing his sword down at the Prophet. The Prophet jumped away as water splashed through the air, hissing. "_I can take you, Blade. I could have always taken you._"

The Blade rose, water dripping from his armor. "_You've never believed that--neither you nor any of the other member of the Order._" 

The Prophet hissed, a silver glow appearing down his Rapier. "_You defy the gods and their messengers! I hope you burn in Hell, Blade!_" Wings of silver light burst from the Rapier, and a blast of radiant power pulsed through the room. The water sprayed into the air, and a fog covered the air. 

"_Silence. He has fallen to the power of the Elder,_" the Prophet mused. "_Ah. I figured as--_" 

The broadsword rammed through his chest. The Prophet looked down as his body began disintegrating. 

"_I will not yield in my crusade to Salem, nor man, nor faunus, nor you, nor gods, nor Ozma,_" the Blade said. He pulled his sword from the dead Grimm, the silver rapier falling into the water. The Blade picked it up. Holy power immediately flowed from the weapon. A trap to kill any Grimm who foolishly tried picking up the weapon that did not belong to them.

The Blade cast it aside. The power of the Order of the Silver Iris was limited to Grimm who cared. The Blade had long ago overcome his weakness. The fact that he had strengthened his conviction. The Prophet would have remembered that, had he been paying attention. Instead of paying attention, he paid the price. 

The Blade walked over to the gem. He reached out and caressed it. Godly power flowed from it. The Blade picked it up. 

And crushed it. 

Green dust fell between his fingers. The light didn't disappear from the room, though. But the world shook. Rocks fell from the ceiling. The Blade slowly walked out, casting the Dust aside as he exited the room. 

"_ 'And in fires sweet, here I burn,'_ " he quoted. " _'Until death comes yet for me, I shall fight while I can, defending the honor of the gods, working for the good of all who still deserve good. So rest in piece, oh broken one.' _"


	4. Dying Powers

Armora tripped, falling and rolling across the ground, landing in a clearing. Ryn landed on top of her. "Hey! I found it!" she said, pointing at a ring of stone pedestals. Ryn jumped up, dusting herself off, then holding out a hand for Armora. Armora took it, then staggered. "Did you...feel that?"

"Feel what?" Ryn asked. 

Armora staggered away, leaning on a pedestal. "Oh. Oh...that's...dunno what that was, but it can't be good."

"Hey, Armora! You found the--OH MY GODS WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?" Rose cried. 

"Rude, don't you think?" Armora sighed. "I'll explain later. Let's..." She rose, stretching. "Ah. Ah. _Ah._" She grimaced. "Let's get a Relic and get home." A horrible, rasping cry echoed through the forest. A claw grabbed a tree, and the Lamprey pulled itself forward. 

Armora reached over and grabbed the jack of diamonds card. "Got it. Now, we get home." She rolled aside as a claw smashed the pedestal that her playing card had been resting on. Armora jumped away from the remaining Relics. "Okay. Uh...guess we gotta deal with this guy?"

Ryn slung her grappling hook around the Lamprey's neck. She yanked herself onto its back, stabbing in between its shoulder blades with her knife, firing off bullets. Several glass shards hit the Lamprey's chest and face, then exploded into fire. It screamed, stumbling backwards. Ashlynn cried, "Aha!" 

The Lamprey reached back, grabbed Ryn, and threw her at Ashlynn. "Oh shit!" cried Ashlynn. The two of them fell backwards in a heap. Rose looked at them, then turned and glared at the Lamprey. She traced her hand down the coarse of her sheath, then, charged forward. The Lamprey swung out, grabbing at her. Rose ducked beneath the attack, engaging her Semblance. She swung her sword, removing one of the Lamprey's hands. It screamed as the severed hand sailed off. Rose stood up, panting. "Damn...I've used my Aura to fast..." She coughed, sheathing her sword. "And that took a lot more than expected."

Armora stared at the Lamprey. It screeched, turning around to face them. "Ryn! Ash! Hit him from behind!"

Ryn and Ash looked at each other. Then, they attacked. Ash summoned a bow made out of dust crystals, firing off several arrows that hit and exploded against the Lamprey's back. As it turned around, Ryn ran around it, throwing her grappling hook around its head, jerking its head in her direction. Pulling hard, she pointed her knife and fired off several bullets into its face. It cried at her. 

"See that thin bit of flesh holding its chest and hips together?" Armora said. 

"Yeah," Rose replied. Armora hefted her sword. "In order to actually keep that thing together, it has to be very strong. Hit it with all you've got."

"Yeah!"

Several more explosions hit the Lamprey's back. It grabbed the grappling hook around its face and tugged, knocking Ryn off her feet. The Lamprey turned in time to see both Rose and Armora slashing it in half at the same time. The Lamprey screamed. Both halves hit different parts of the ground. "Hell yeah!" Rose cried. 

The top half of the Lamprey began using its three remaining hands to crawl away at a rapid pace. 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING?" Rose cried, pointing. 

"It's a Lamprey. Cutting off pieces of it leads to each piece forming a new Lamprey, unless the piece is to damaged or small," Armora explained. "See, his lower half has already disappeared."

"And you told us to cut that thing in half?" Rose burst out. 

"Oh. Oh, yeah, oh, now I see...oh...oh, shit...uh..." Armora shrugged with a smile. "Oopsie?"

There was a stunned silence. Then, everyone laughed as Armora wrapped her scarf around her head. 

"Toro, Roberts, Patty, and Rasmond--You chose the dark queen cards, and are now team TRPR(trapper). Your leader, Rasmond!" The rest of the students clapped for team TRPR as the students hugged each other. Oscar smiled as the four left. "Lastly, Sunny, Armora, Ashlynn, and Ryn--the four of you picked the light jack cards. You are now team SAAR(soar). Your leader...Armora." Oscar smiled at them. "Congratulations."

The students clapped. Rose held up a hand. " 'Soar' isn't spelled like that," she pointed out. 

"You gave me two a's, an r, and an s. Be grateful for what you got," Oscar snapped. 

"You could have done AARS," Rose stated. 

The students laughed. Salem chuckled, covering her mouth. Oscar glared at her, then sighed. "Well, then. I'll stick with SAAR. As for everyone, Salem can hand out everyone's dorm assignments. You will have what remains of today and tomorrow to settle and make your dorm your home. After that, though, remember this is a school. Classes will start for the first time again." He smiled. "Good night."

Armora flopped down into a bed. "I am exhausted," she proclaimed. 

"Me, too," Rose said, flopping into her own bed. "Say, there isn't much room in here. Maybe we could try turning these four beds into two bunk beds?"

"I'm not sure how I feel about that idea," Ashlynn said pointedly. 

Ryn chuckled. "So...about those explanations..."

Armora sighed. She sat up, pulling the scarf off. "Well...there isn't much I can actually explain. Most of it is just what I was told, and I can't really verify it." She paused a minute. "From what I _know_ is true, all Grimm are born from a pool of this weird black lake. I know its somewhere up north. That's...where I came from. I was found as a baby in a small basket on the surface of the lake by none other than Ruby and Jaune. Salem was the one who raised me." Armora clasped her hands together. "That's...really all I know how to tell."

"But...why?" Ryn asked. "Why did a Grimm suddenly look like a person instead of something else?" 

"When did that happen?" Rose asked suddenly. 

"Um...I'm eighteen, so eighteen years ago?"

"Huh. Shortly after Mom and Dad got married, actually," Rose mused. 

"Yeah. Just a day or two after...well, whatever they did that stopped the Grimm," Armora said. "I don't...they never told me what they did."

"Just...having that many unanswered questions about your life," Ashlynn sat back. "Wow."

"Hey, are Oscar and Salem, like, 'together'?" Rose asked. 

"Um...not to my knowledge? They both helped raise me..."

There was an awkward silence. Armora lay back down. "Ugh. I don't know about anything. I know there've been other Grimm like me, but...I don't know anything about them."

"Well, we can find out together," Ryn said, lying down on the bed next to Armora. She smiled at Armora. Armora smiled back. "Oh, yeah. I also have a tail."

"A tail?" Ashlynn asked. She looked over. "Like, a tiny rabbit tail? A wolf tail?"

"Deathstalker," Armora replied. "It...comes in handy. And I do know from personal experience that it grows back."

"Ouch," Ashlynn stated. "Um...how?"

"...I don't feel like answering that question right now."

"So...do you heal from wounds?" Ryn asked. "For humans and Faunus, its Aura that allows us to heal. How does it work?"

"Well, when I get hurt, the wound just smokes a bit and heals on its own. Dunno how it works, it just does. Paper cuts get annoying quickly though, especially if I'm out around people who don't know I'm a Grimm."

"Wow," Ashlynn stated. "Well, let's go to bed now. We've got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow."

Oscar stood at the edge of the cliff with Salem. Yang and Blake stood next to him. 

"Hey, Oscar," Emerald called out. "What's going on? What are you looking at?" Oscar didn't reply. Emerald frowned, then noticed something small and gray floating in the air. Ash? Emerald rushed over, looking over the cliff. "Oh my gods," she breathed. "What...what am I looking at? What...what happened...where...where did the Emerald Forest go?"

Oscar looked over the barren wasteland of ash and stone that had once been a majestic forest. "I do believe that the False Savior was faster than anticipated."

Striding through ash and stone, the Nameless Blade looked up a the night sky. Grimm circled through the wasteland around him. Then, the more powerful ones came. The Hydra, the Morrigan, the Chimaera, the Forgotten...

They stared at him, expectantly. In response, he held his sword aloft in one hand. 

No words were spoken. None were needed. 

An ancient power had died. Beacon would fall again, and the Grimm would get the world they were promised. 

__


	5. First Day At School Again

For the first time in a long while, students piled into the school cafeteria. They piled their plates high with food, ready to sit and eat. 

Everyone piled their plates high with food...except Armora Gigas. Ryn looked over. "Uh...did you plan on eating?"

"Umm..." Armora thought that over. "I can't eat human food," she whispered. 

"Oh." Ryn nodded. 

"Isn't this great?" an excited voice cried. A boy sat down in the table opposite them, sliding a plate onto the table. "Beacon Academy! Brilliant!"

"Um...yeah?" Ashlynn looked at him. 

"Mind if we sit here?" another voice asked.

Armora looked up at the remaining three students. "Not at all. Rasmond, right?"

The girl smiled as she sat down. "Yeah. Rasmond Rio. This--" She nodded to the first boy. "--is Robert. That's Toro and Patty. You're team SAAR, right?"

"Mm-hmm. Armora."

"Ryn Scarlatina."

"Ashlynn Fall."

"Sunny Rose."

"Rose? As in, Ruby Rose? _The _Ruby Rose?" Rasmond took a bite of her food. 

Rose sighed. "Yes."

"Wow. Having the Hero of Haven for a mom...quite the legacy, eh?"

Rose sighed again. Rasmond looked at her. 

"Not so great having a legendary hero as a mom, eh?" Toro asked. He scooped a large spoon of mashed potatoes and ate it. 

"It's...well, she's an awesome mom, but I was kind of hoping to make my _own_ legacy. Have everyone see me for me instead of her." Rose leaned forward over her food, stirring it with a fork. "Instead, everyone keeps seeing me and thinking of Mom. I mean, we don't even look alike! I have yellow hair!" 

"Did you dye it?" Ahslynn asked. 

"Actually, no," Rose said. "Besides, I use a sword, she uses a scythe. My eyes are blue, not silver!" 

Rasmond chuckled. "I was in Atlas one time and met Weiss Schnee. She...seemed more tired than anything else."

"She stopped by our house one time. Her and my Aunts, Yang and Blake."

"That hast to be weird," Robert said. 

"Uh...not really," Rose told him. 

Armora looked Rasmond over. She wore the normal school uniform, wore her brown hair short. Rasmond noticed her look. "I can't help but notice...you're still wearing the suit of armor."

"Skin condition," Armora replied without hesitation. 

"Is it that bad?" Rasmond asked, frowning. 

"Not really, but it looks really bad, so I wear the armor not to attract looks," Armora said. 

"Have you talked to many doctors about it?" Rasmond asked. 

"Yeah, but once I found out it wasn't anything too bad, I stopped trying to find anything to fix it," Armora replied. 

_She lied so perfectly without hesitation,_ Ashlynn thought. _Good gods, that woman's got talent._

"May I have your attention," Oscar's voice rang out. He walked into the cafeteria slowly, moving to the center of the room, Salem right behind him. "I have an announcement."

Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at Oscar. Oscar sighed, taking a large sip from his coffee. "The Emerald Forest is gone."

There was a long silence. "I don't get it," Rose called out. 

"This is no joke. This is no test. The Emerald Forest disappeared last night." Oscar sipped his coffee. "We are currently trying to figure everything out, but until we do, _not one person sets foot anywhere within a mile of the Forest. Do I make myself clear_?" The force and authority in his voice rang out through the cafeteria. A chorus of "yes, sir"s rang out. 

"Good." Oscar turned around. "School will start as planned tomorrow. Have a nice day."

"Gone? How does an entire forest just disappear?" Rasmond asked. 

"Well...I sort of felt something yesterday while in it," Armora confessed. "Did any of you feel it?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Felt what?" Toro asked. He looked at her curiously. 

"Just...like...something, I guess," Armora said vaguely. "I can't really describe it any more than that."

"Some people have a knack for sensing Auras and Semblances," Ryn said. "So if something big did happen, it would make sense for at least someone to notice." _At the same time, I feel like I would have noticed before she did..._ "Maybe you should talk to Professor Oscar."

"I'll do that," Armora said. "Then we'll sort out the room stuff."

"Were you not hungry today?" Robert asked. 

"Um..." Armora blinked. "No...I wasn't...I had a big breakfast."

"...this is breakfast."

There was an awkward silence. "I didn't think and had too many snacks, okay?" Armora snapped. She crossed her arms, and Rose knew that if she weren't wearing the scarf, she would see Armora's face turning a bright red. "I'm...I'm going to go talk to D--Oscar." She got up and walked away quickly. 

"Um...is she alright?" Rasmond asked. Patty shook her head, then blew a strand of brown-and-pink hair out of her face. 

"She's mute," Toro whispered. 

"Ah." Ashlynn looked at Rasmond. "I guess she's had a rough few days? I dunno. I only met her yesterday."

Rasmond frowned after Armora. "Any idea what that D word she was about to say was?"

"Um..." Ashlynn thought about that. "No."

Patty raised a hand, then, held up her scroll, with a text open, simply reading DAD. 

"Oh. Headmaster's daughter," Rasmond clapped a hand to her forehead. "That explains some of her embarrassment. Between Oscar and who?"

"Salem?" Robert suggested. 

Rose didn't know how to answer. She looked at Ashlynn, who shrugged. Ryn tapped the table. "It's pretty rude to start talking about her private life the moment she walks away, you know." 

No one spoke for a minute. "Fair enough," Rasmond said. "If I really need to know, I can ask her about it, anyways."

Ashlynn thanked the gods for Ryn's quick thinking. 

Armora walked into the hallway. "Professor Pines?" she called out. Oscar turned around. "Ah. Armora. What is it you need?"

"Um...yesterday, sir, I sort of...felt something while we were in the forest."

Oscar frowned, sharing a look with Salem. "Felt what?"

"Power. Pure, raw, power."

"I feel like I would have noticed anything too powerful in the forest," Salem said. 

"It wasn't power moving, or spreading out. It was...leaving." Armora struggled for words. "It felt like...dammit! English doesn't have the words for this!"

"It's okay. Calm down." Oscar went onto one knee, putting a hand on her shoulder. She was no longer small enough for his eyes to be on level with hers, though. "Now. Try again."

Armora took a deep breath. "It felt like...when the soul leaves a dying person."

Oscar shared a worried look with Salem. "That doesn't sound good."

"No. It doesn't."

Oscar turned back to Armora. "Thanks for telling us this. Now, head back to your team. I'm sure they're waiting for they're leader."

"Everything's going to be okay, right?" Armora asked. 

Oscar rose to his feet. "The best I can say is hopefully. At the moment, though, I need to plan. And you need to set your room up. It will be a pain if you have to reorganize everything while still doing classes every day."

"Yeah." Armora turned around and walked off. 

"Always the liar, aren't you?" Salem asked. "So. How are we going to fix this?"

"With difficulty," Oscar answered. He turned around and began walking. "But, it is fixable, I think."

Armora opened the door to their dorm hesitantly. "Hey, you're back," Rose cried. She held up large, worn binder covered in dust. "I found this under a bed. We reckon it belonged to one of the last occupants of this room."

"And what are you planning on doing with it?" Armora asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. Closing the door behind her, she pulled the scarf off her head, throwing it aside. 

"Reading it!" Rose cried. 

"I still think that's wrong," Ryn stated. "I mean, rifling through someone else's personal things?"

"Hey, it has mom's name on it!" Rose said, blowing the dust off. "Yup. Property of Ruby Rose."

"That doesn't make anything better!' Ryn snapped. 

Rose opened it. "Oh. It's full of photos."

Armora sat down on on her bed. She looked over to her right, where Ashlynn was putting a lantern with a dust crystal in it. "Isn't that dangerous?" Armora asked. 

"Not really. This one's not really usable anyway." Ashlynn tossed a red crystal into the air, catching it. Armora followed it with her eyes. "What's wrong?" Ashlynn asked. 

"...Yeah, there's a reason that stuff works on Grimm, and that's cause it hurts. _A lot_."

"What do you mean?" Ashlynn frowned. 

"Ever touched a frying pan while it was cooking? Except imagine that instead of touching it while it was cooking something, imagine you touched it while it was being smelted. Let me tell you, that was not a good experience." Armora grimaced. 

"Hey, Miss Emerald's in this one!" Rose called. She spun the binder around. "See? Team RWBY and CMEN!" Everyone looked. The picture was worn and old, taped to the aged paper at the corners. Ruby sat in the center, hugging Emerald. Behind Emerald to the right stood three other people, and three others on Ruby's left. 

"Team RWBY...Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang," Rose said, tapping each person. "But...I don't know who any of these other people are."

"That's mom," Ashlynn said, pointing at Emerald. "That...I think that's Mercury, actually. Funny. I didn't think he went to Beacon."

"Mercury?" Ryn asked, forgetting her earlier complaints. "Who's he?"

"A friend of mom's," Ashlynn said. "Taxi driver. Bit of an ass, but in a lovable way."

"Who are these two, though?" Rose asked. 

"The one in the coat looks like you, Ashlynn," Armora pointed out. 

Ashlynn frowned. "Hmm...I'm definitely going to ask Mom about this one." She touched the binder, only to have the page immediately fall out. "Uh--I guess that makes it easy." She folded the photo, pocketing it. 

"Hmm...let's see...we've got more photos of team RWBY...one of her and the old headmaster...I think that's my great-uncle Qrow. Oh. Dad's team--JNPR."

"She was active with this binder, wasn't she?" Armora asked. "Who's that? I met the rest of these three, but I've never seen her."

"Um...I remember Dad talking about her. Pyrrha Nikos. She...died at the Fall of Beacon." Rose flinched. "A lot of people died there."

"Yikes," Armora said. 

Rose turned the page. "Lots of photos here. Her and...anyone know who that is?"

"Nope," Ashlynn said. Ryn shook her head, and Armora tapped her chin. "No clue. Sorry."

"It's labeled Penny Polendina." Rose turned the page. "Huh? Looks like she stopped here." Armora flinched. "Ack. Turn the page back."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked. 

"Just...get it off that page," Armora said, taking a step back. Rose closed the book. Armora sighed. "Ow. That was magic."

"Magic? You mean, like, fairy tales?" Ryn asked. 

"Yeah. I can sense magic." She paused. "Presumably what I sensed yesterday, I guess, in the forest."

"What's it doing on mom's old binder?" Rose asked with a frown. 

"Dunno. But we probably ought to dump that thing as soon as possible," Armora replied. 

"Hey, do you have any personal items, Armora?" Ryn asked, returning to a box she'd brought in. She pulled out a few books. "Any, like, posters you want to hang up, or anything?"

"I've never really cared about that sort of thing," Armora replied. "Never got attached to objects."

"Mom sometimes gets to attached to random objects," Rose laughed. "She named her scythe. And the previous one, which broke. She still has the pieces with her, and she wears one on a necklace."

"Is that weird to you, to?" Armora asked. 

"Yes," Ryn replied. 

"Ah."

"Yeah, it is kinda weird," Rose agreed. She hefted the binder. "I...I'm going to ask Professor Pines about this thing. It's weird."

"Hey, uh, one quick thing," Armora interrupted. "Um...I know it might be a little early, but...maybe we should try coming up with team attacks? You know, different strategies for attacking?"

"I think Professor Belladonna's going to cover that," Ryn pointed out. 

"Yeah. Even so, never hurts to start early," Armora said with a shrug. 

Ashlynn considered that. "Maybe we should wait until after class starts tomorrow."

"Yeah. Fair enough."

The room where Blake Belladonna had her class planned was a large room with a stage. On each side of the stage was a screen. Blake strode across the stage, surveying her students. "I'm going to keep this brief," she said. "For most combat practice here, I'm going to put you against in each other in one-on-one duels. While, yes, you will be mostly fighting Grimm, it helps to have an understanding of fighting human opponents. Duels are a fairly simple, but effective way of simulating a to-the-death battle between two individuals. The two duelists will fight each other until one of two things happen: one of the duelists either steps off or is knocked off the edge of the stage, or one of your Aura's gets down to the red." She nodded to the screens, tapping a button on a scroll. One of the screens lit up with a picture of her face and a green bar indicating Aura. "If your Aura gets down to the red, that means that an opponent your fighting has the opportunity to kill you. In a battle where both fighters are trying to kill the other, that is very bad." She surveyed the crowd. "Any questions?"

"What if I knock the stage out from under my opponents feet?" Rose asked. "Does that count as them stepping off, or me knocking them off?"

"You will win the duel, but you will be the one to rebuild the stage," Blake replied without hesitation. 

"Good to know."

"If that is all, I have a couple of one-on-one battles prepared to start us off. Armora Gigas from SAAR and Patricia Scarlet from TRPR, please come up to the stage."

Armora was mildly alarmed, but was comforted upon seeing the screen light up, displaying her 'Aura', despite the fact that she didn't have one. Patricia pulled out a sheathed rapier, then gave a mock-salute to Armora. Patricia wore a pink overcoat and purple tank top beneath it. Her rapier's sheath appeared to double as a bludgeoning weapon. 

"Good luck," Armora said. 

"Until one of you gets down to the red, or one of you is knocked off the stage. Semblances are allowed," Blake stated. She stepped into the background. "Begin."

Patricia disappeared. 

"She can turn invisible?" Rose asked. Rasmond nodded. "Freaked me the F out when I first saw it."

Armora didn't move. Then, she bended backwards and spun a kick behind her. Patricia slid backwards across the stage, stopping at the edge, holding up her rapier after blocking Armora's attack. Armora stood up straight, pulling out her broadsword. 

"How did she..." Rasmond blinked. 

"Armora's good with sensing Auras, like me," Ryn said quickly. "So...invisibility isn't too good against her."

Rasmond didn't say anything. Patricia blinked, then, rushed forward, unsheathing her rapier. She jabbed at Armora, who blocked with her sword. Patricia swung the sheath at Armora's head, but Armora blocked with her hand, then kicked Patricia in the stomach. Patricia slid backwards, and Armora ran at her, swinging down hard. Patricia rolled to the side. Armora snapped her hand out, grabbing the collar of Patricia's shirt, picked her up, and threw her. Patricia stabbed her rapier into the stage, flipping herself into a back flip, landing at the edge of the stage. As she struggled to regain balance, Armora stepped forward and shoved her off the stage. 

"And the winner is...Armora." Blake looked at her scroll, stepping forward. Armora helped Patricia up and back onto the stage. "But do notice that neither of their Auras have noticeably lowered. Their are fights you can win without directly harming your opponents too much." Blake looked up at Armora and Patricia. "Please return to your seats, and thanks for the demonstration." The two nodded, then returned to their seats. "I will say that sometimes, like then, one combatant manages to get an early advantage and pull a win super quickly. Other times, fights can last a while. Please remember that early advantages and later advantages in a fight are both equally important. Now, onto the next one. We'll have two more fights, then stop for today. Next fight, Rasmond Rio versus Marcus Green."

Rasmond walked onto the stage. She pulled out a saber, thick-bladed. She wore a blue skirt and jacket, and a small, flower pendant in her hair. Marcus wore a suit of armor, hefting an axe. He breathed in, then gave a slight half-bow to Rasmond. Rasmond nodded to him. 

"Begin." Rasmond walked around Marcus, sizing her opponent. Marcus was huge. He jumped at her, swinging his axe. Rasmond ducked back, spinning around him, slashing him in the back and jumping back. Marcus spun, swinging at her. She stepped out of reach, then lunged in, using ice dust with her saber, ramming the hilt into his face. Ice dust was discharged into his face as Rasmond jumped back. Marcus stumbled back, holding his face. He glared at her. 

_Oh, shit_, Rasmond thought. _I pissed him off..._ She cried out as he rushed her again, jumping backwards as the axe shook the stage. Rasmond jumped forward, on top of his axe, then kicked him hard in the face, propelling her self backwards into the air, turning her saber into a sniper rifle. She took careful aim, swapping to fire dust. She fired, landing on the opposite end of the stage as a flying explosion hit Marcus square in the chest. He fell back against the stage. He jumped back up however, swapping his axe to a cannon. "Dodge this!" he cried, firing. A large ball of fire dust crystals launched across the room. Rasmond jumped aside as it exploded. She shielded her face from the fire, then jumped through the smoke, lunging through the air, landing on top of Marcus, who quickly turned his cannon back into an axe and blocked her sword swing. She grabbed a hold of the axe, then spun herself around it, kicking him hard in the face. Marcus flung backwards, sliding to the edge of the stage, his axe hitting the ground next to him. 

"And his Aura is in the red," Blake stated. "That means he's down. Rasmond is the winner."

Marcus rose to his feet, stumbling. 

"Please try to put more tact into your fighting," Blake told him. Marcus nodded. "Please return to your seats, and we'll get started with our third bout. This next one is..." Blake checked her scroll. "Daniel Burns and Warren Victors."

After the third battle between the students, Blake looked up. "Now then. Run along to your next class." As students began filing out, Blake stepped from the stage, putting a hand on Rose's shoulder. "A word?" Rose looked at her team. "I'll catch up."

Blake sat on the back of a chair, arms folded. After the rest of the students left, she said, "I'm going to be blunt. You're Semblance has caused a lot of issues for me."

"I don't follow," Rose said. 

"I met a man once who had a Semblance like yours." Blake paused. "Except he couldn't get as big of a hit going from the start of a battle, like you can." She looked Rose in the eyes. "That guy is the guy who took of Yang's arm."

Rose flinched. "What I'm saying is, what you really need to learn right now is restraint. If an ally wanders into a spot where you could hit them, you could kill someone. That's why you weren't up there, dueling anyone. Your Semblance is ridiculously strong, especially for someone with as much Aura as you. And you have a tendency to overdo it."

Rose rubbed her head. "Uh...sorry?"

"You didn't do anything. I'm just trying to warn you. If you screw something up in combat, _you could kill someone_. I need to stress this." She put a hand on Rose's shoulder. "You haven't done anything wrong, Sunny. But please, try to practice some restraint with your Semblance. Okay?"

Rose nodded. Blake hugged Rose. "Now. Your team is waiting on you. Go on."


	6. Salem Teaches Anatomy

Ashlynn Fall had quickly decided that history was her least favorite subject. She'd thought that Yang Xiao Long could make it interesting, but no, she couldn't. She could only do what all other history teachers did--recite page after page from a history book. She fell asleep three separate times, but, thanks to an intervention from Armora, was only caught and scolded once. 

"And I guess that's it for today," Yang said as the bell rang. She set down the chalk, then guzzled a thing of water. "Man, this is going to ruin my throat! Also, Ashlynn?"

"Yeah?"

"Please try to listen when I speak." Yang glared at her, a red flash going through her eyes. 

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Dismissed."

"What classes do we have after lunch?" Rose asked as they sat down in the cafeteria. 

Armora pulled out a checkbook. "Okay. We've done combat and history. Some of the other teachers haven't arrived yet--specifically, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie have been in the middle of a difficult mission, and are struggling to try and come. So all we have after lunch is...anatomy."

Rose shuddered. "Dunno what it is, but Miss Salem creeps me out."

"You and me both," Rasmond said, taking a seat next to her. Toro sat next to her, then Patricia and Roberts. "How has your first day been?"

"Busy," Armora said. "Dunno what I did to become team leader, but I'm regretting it."

Rasmond laughed. "You and me both," she repeated. 

Roberts looked over. "Hey, Armora. This may sound weird, but are you a Faunus?"

Armora looked up from her notebook. "Who's asking?"

Roberts laughed. "Fair enough. I was thinking maybe if you had some sort of super hearing, that would explain why you were able to see Patty, cause her Semblance also hides her Aura."

"I am a Faunus, but I noticed the stage dip where her foot fell," Armora said. "And you don't exactly move quietly."

Rasmond frowned at that. "Hey, I saw Patricia and Rasmond fight, but I didn't catch what you two can do," Ryn commented. 

"That's proprietary," Roberts immediately responded. 

"I use gun-chucks," Toro said. 

"You mean nun-chucks?" Ryn asked. 

"If I'd meant nun-chucks, I would have said, nun-chucks," Toro said, looking her in the eyes. 

"Right..." 

"What do you have?" Rasmond asked. 

"Revolver/dagger and grappling hook," Ryn replied. "Really good mobility, and it combos with my Semblance. I can select a point and fall towards it."

"Cool."

"I use dust crystals," Ashlynn explained. "My Semblance allows me to control crystals--not just dust, but that doesn't come up much. I specialize with fire dust."

"Can you block bullets?" Rose asked suddenly. "That would be really cool."

"Yeah, actually. Haven't practiced in a bit, though. Mom's been too busy for sparring practice these past few days."

"Way to call me out in public," Emerald said, leaning against the table. 

"Mom?" Ashlynn looked suddenly alarmed. 

"Just wanted to tell you: something's come up, I'm going to be away for a week or two. Some Grimm or other is being a nuisance."

"Does it have something to do with the Emerald Forest?" Rasmond asked. 

Emerald looked at her. "Maybe, maybe not. Dunno yet." She reached over, plucked a grape from Rasmond's plate, and ate it. "See you soon, Ashlynn."

"See ya, Mom." Emerald walked away from the table. 

"Wow," Rasmond said. "She's cool."

"Yeah." Ashlynn nodded. 

"Armora, are you not eating again?" Roberts asked. 

"Um...I'm really not hungry..."

"Hey, what do you use, Sunny? I mean, weapon-wise," Rasmond asked. 

"Sword."

"Gun sword?"

"Sword sword. But my Semblance allows me to super-charge my sword with my Aura. I was attacked by a Deathstalker once, and took it out in one hit."

"Wow. Is it that strong? I mean, when Professor Belladonna singled you out, I figured something was up, but..."

"Yeah. It's tough," Rose replied. "Too tough, as I'm just now learning."

The bell rang again. "Time for Miss Salem's class." Rose shuddered. "I'm just hoping she doesn't do anything weird."

The massive covered cage shook violently. "Good afternoon, class," Salem said with a pleasant smile. 

"Oh no," Rose muttered, taking her seat. 

"So when I first took this job, I was thinking, just put up anatomical drawings of Grimm. Then I realized..." Salem yanked the cover off the cage, revealing a very angry Ursa. "...why settle for pictures when you've got the real deal within literal yards of the classroom?"

Rose raised a hand. "Yes, Miss Rose?"

"Yeah, um, just one question. Why. Just...why."

"A question I have asked myself many times, Miss Rose." Salem gestured to the Ursa. "We can see a few immediate details on this fellow here. To state the obvious, all Grimm have red eyes and white bones coming from all over their skin." The Ursa roared at her. Salem smacked it on the nose with a rod, then continued talking. "The fun things come to when we got to the less well-known facts. For example, Grimm do in fact have blood. You can see it in the moments before their corpses disintegrate." She pulled out a knife and cut the Ursa's face. Sure enough, the knife was covered in blood that began smoking. "If a Grimm survives a wound, the wound will slowly heal over time. Older Grimm often have scars from battles with Huntsmen. Now, the most interesting thing about a non-mortal wound, is that, for most Grimm, the wound won't start smoking. Only a couple of Grimm smoke when injured--a few specific species that, generally, cause a lot more issues. Does anyone know which species I'm talking about?"

Rasmond raised a hand. "Yes, Miss Rio?"

"You are referring to the Nefarri Principle, right? The Grimm known in accordance with the Nefarri Principle are the Lamprey, the Wyrm, the Chimaera, the Knucklavee, and the Wyvern--say, wasn't there a Wyvern sitting on top of the school, at one point?"

"Whaddya mean, 'was'?" Salem asked. "It's still there. The Wyvern is the one Grimm that didn't disappear when it died. And as for where it went..." Salem tapped a wall. "We just extended the school a bit. Some of the walls are unusually thick, but hey, it works."

For the longest time, no one spoke. Then, Rose cried, "Hell yeah!"

"Please save the cursing for out on missions, where it is appropriate," Salem replied. "In any case, the Nefarri Grimm all present unique challenges. The Lamprey's wounds smoke because each time part of it is severed, it grows into a new lamprey. The Wyrm is a massive snake that lives in the Vacuo desert. It is like the Wyvern--there only appears to be one of them. The Chimaera is actually three Grimm in one body. The Knucklavee...okay, no one knows a damn thing about that one, so I'm not even going into it." The Ursa rammed into the side of its cage, roaring. Salem, annoyed, kicked the cage over. "The Nefarri Principle was, no surprise, thought up by Bartholomew Nefarri. Nefarri reasoned that these Grimm were different--and they were. However, where he was wrong was in that he believed that they had something in common. To be fair, he didn't have access to most of the information we have now. Now, we can tell that the Wyrm moves through the sand, and does not, in fact, teleport. We know exactly what goes on with the Lamprey. The Chimaera is an oddity. And no one even knew about the Wyvern and the Knucklavee before twenty years ago.

"There are a lot of other odd things about these Grimm. For one thing, they are all incredibly rare. They have more of the bones sticking out of their skin. And they do have one last thing in common with each other: the Lamprey can split into more Lampreys, the Wyrm has Grimm living inside of it, the Chimaera is actually three Grimm, the Wyvern dropped more Grimm, and the Knucklavee appears to have been two Grimm. Over the next...Lamprey, Wyrm, Chimaera..." Salem paused, thinking. "Five. Yes, Nefarri Five. Over the next five days, we'll go over each of these Grimm individually, going over the information we know about them. Any questions?"

Rose raised a hand. "Will you be bringing live ones into the school?"

"If I could get away with it, yes, but sadly, most of them are too dangerous to drop in front of a class of eighteen year olds," Salem said with a sigh. 

"Okay. Good to know." 

"Alright then. Class dismissed."

Emerald Sustrai picked up a piece of charcoal. Perhaps the last stick left of the Emerald Forest. She looked around at the barren wasteland. Even the Grimm had gone. "This is going to be annoying," she muttered, standing up straight. She turned around to see a figure sitting atop a blackened boulder. It looked vaguely human, but its skin was black and coated in feathers. It wore a tattered robe, with bird claws instead of hands and feet. It wore a hat on its head, wide-brimmed and pointed, and it had a beak instead of a mouth. Its eyes were human. 

It screeched at her, then spread two great wings and flew off. 

"Definitely going to be annoying," Emerald ascertained, following the creature. 

A boot snapped the twig. The smallish figure in red and black leaned down, picking up the broken stick. She sighed. "Jaune...I think...I don't think there was a Grimm."

"Whaddya mean?" Jaune asked. He stepped around a tree, hacking a vine out of his way with his sword. Ruby sighed again, looking at him. She wore what she always wore, a remake of Crescent Rose across her back. A small, cross-shaped shard of steel hung from a string around her neck. She idly scratched the scar that sat around her right eye. "I think...I think those villagers just got spooked, assumed there was a Grimm, and then called us."

"Give them some credit," Jaune told her. The vine he'd been hacking snapped back, hitting him in the face. Glaring at it, he continued. "I mean, I'm sure they know what a Grimm looks like."

"No one's seen it. Also, Grimm don't normally hunt and eat things--least of all, chickens." Ruby put a hand on her hip. 

Jaune thought that over a long minute before shrugging. "Sure, we could go by normal Grimm logic. Or we could realize that there are some effing weird Grimm. Take, for instance, the Knucklavee, or the Wyvern. Then you've got the Apathy."

"That last one wasn't weird, that was fairly normal, all things considered," Ruby said, pointing a finger at him. Something crunched under her boot. Ruby looked down at the chicken skeleton, moving her foot. "Okay. Guess that's one question answered."

"You owe me a soda," Jaune said. 

"One skeleton doesn't prove anything," Ruby began, but then cut off. She followed Jaune's gaze, looking up into the trees. A small, thin Grimm snarled at them. "Holy fuck, there was a Chupacabra," Ruby said. "Dammit, I owe you a soda."

"Yes, you do," Jaune agreed. 

The Chupacabra snarled, lunging down. Ruby stepped out of the way, slashing the Grimm's shoulder open with a timed attack. The Chupacabra stumbled back only to be bashed by Jaune's shield. Screeching, it rushed up a tree. 

Ruby whipped out her sniper, shooting the creature's other shoulder. With a cry, it fell to the earth. Ruby put her boot on its chest, aiming her gun at its head. 

Then it laughed. "Blood lusted, aren't you, Silver Warrior?"

Ruby stopped, raising an eyebrow. The Chupacabra laughed again. "Anger and resentment are poor traits for one such as you."

"You and your kind have kinda lost the right to complain," Ruby said. 

"Ah, but most do so anyway. Me, I live on what I can."

"And now you will die."

"Ah, death. Tell me, warrior, do you fear death?"

Ruby fired. The creature fell limp to the ground, dead. 


	7. The Nameless Blade

"So they're heading into the forest?" Yang asked.

"Yes," Oscar replied. "Salem's with them, and I don't see any reason for the Blade to have gone from Emerald Forest to Forever Fall. Meanwhile, with all the students out, we can search the school in peace."

"You can search the school, I'm heading out after them to make sure nothing happens," Yang said. Oscar noted her hands were shaking. "Dammit. Why must things always be so complicated?" She stepped off the cliff, jumping down. Oscar watched as a canary flew off into the air.

"Good luck," he whispered before turning around and heading back to the school.

"For today's class, we are heading into Forever Falls," Salem said to the congregated students. "You've been pretty busy, now that the other teachers have actually arrived. Think of this as a quick break. We are going to be heading in, each of you will take collect one jar of sap, and bring it back unharmed. Some missions Huntsmen have to deal with are just to get in, grab the target, get out."

"Yo, Armora," Rasmond called out, walking over. Armora looked behind her, not slowing her pace. "What?"

"Two team have twice the chance of being able to keep these glass bottles from getting broken. Team up?"

"Sure." Armora stopped suddenly, looking out into the woods.

"I'm sensing a lot of Grimm about," Ryn said. "But there's a lot of tension in the other students. Everyone's worried about the Emerald Forest, so this trip to the Forever Fall is, naturally, going to be made more difficult than strictly necessary."

Armora passed her bottle to Rasmond. "Hold this. I'm scouting ahead."

Rasmond took the bottle. "Hey, why not two people scout, just to be safe?"

"I've got this," Armora replied, disappearing through the trees.

"Quit it," Toro snapped.

"What's up?" Ashlynn asked.

"Rasmond's been suspicious of Armora since day one," Toro replied. "I tell you, she's just a normal girl."

"Then why won't my Semblance work on her?" Rasmond snapped back.

"She's just a normal girl," Ashlynn said. "There's probably some complicated reason or--"

"My Semblance allows me to detect lies," Rasmond interrupted.

"Shit!" Ashlynn burst out, covering her mouth.

Armora stepped into the middle of the path. She breathed in deeply, then removed the scarf from around her head. "I know you're there," she said out loud. "You might as well come out."

Wind blew. Tree branches shook. Then a tree separated itself from the rest, colors changing as a gold-and-black clad figure walked out in front of her. Armora shuddered--unfortunately, she'd been right. But she had to do this--and she couldn't risk harming the rest of her team by bringing them into this fight.

This was her demon to fight.

"Ah. Second time you've caught me," the Blade said. "Your skills are ever sharper, I see."

"What do you want?" Armora snapped.

The Blade stepped forward. "You to stop this. Please. You do not belong with them, you belong with your brethren."

"No. I belong with who I want to be with."

"Humans and Faunus have killed thousands of us."

"And we've killed thousands of them!"

"They struck first!" the Blade cried. He pointed through the trees, where, a long distance off, Armora's team waited. "The first human killed the first Grimm! And they've only escalated from there! We need to be unified if we are to survive!"

"What you need to do is stop attacking!" Armora cried. "Humans wouldn't be continuing this if the Grimm weren't also continuing it!"

"That's not how war works!" The Blade stepped forward. He stopped as Armora took a step back, hands on her sword. "You...fear me."

Armora drew her sword, pointing it at him. She'd heard about what humans called having your heart race--if only her heart could do that.

"Fear isn't for us. Fear is for them." The single eye stared through the helmet at her. "You...you..." His pose straightened. "I see how this is going to work, then. You've betrayed your own kind for them."

"I'm not betraying you--I was never with you," Armora said. "You make a point, but you're going about it the wrong way."

The Blade drew his sword. "I called this weapon 'Trust'. Cause when it was forged, I still had trust in them. But they attacked, striking and killing and massacring." Armora took a fighting stance. The Blade glared at her. "Alright then. I'll put an end to this."

The Blade rushed her, swinging his sword around. She blocked, shoving back against him. The Blade stepped backwards as she attacked, blocking with ease. Armora swung around at his head. He rolled, landed on his hands, and kicked the back of her blade, spinning her around. He jumped and kicked her in the back, rushing after and attacking. Armora parried, catching herself and landing on her feet. She knocked his sword aside with her own, then kicked him. He blocked with his spare hand, then twisted out of the way as a stinger slashed past him. Armora stepped back, sword ready, a long, black stinger coming from her back. She glared at him with cold, measured fury. 

The Blade stood up straight, sword pointed at the ground. He held one hand in front of him, then gave a taunt. Armora charged, slashing, kicking and stinging. He ducked beneath a sting, sliding backwards as she stung. She jumped backwards into the air, turning her sword into a shotgun and opening fire. The Blade rolled to the side as rocks and stone blew into the air. Armora landed on the ground, swapping back to sword as she charged the Blade. He, however, stepped towards her, swinging towards her face. She ducked beneath it, slashing towards his face from below. He bent backwards as she slid past. She jumped towards him, throwing a kick. He blocked with his fist, shoving her back. She spun back around, stinging towards his face. He stepped aside, then grabbed her stinger and cut it off. 

Armora rolled across the ground, crying out in pain. The Blade held up the severed stinger, then threw it on the ground in front of her. "Where are your friends now, Armora? Where are the humans you foolishly placed your trust in?"

Something small and yellow flitted through the branches overhead. A canary? 

The Blade leapt backwards, away from Armora, as Yang slammed into the ground where he'd stood. She rose up, eyes fierce and red. "Nameless Blade, right? Well, my students have names, and I'm not ready to write any of them on tombstones."

"Hmm..." The Blade glared at her. A bullet clinked against his helmet. 

"Armora!" Rose cried, running over, hand on her sword. "Are you okay?" Ryn, Ashlynn, and even Rasmond and her team jumped from the trees over to her. 

Ashlynn extended a hand to Armora. "If some creep was stalking you, you should have said something. We are your team, after all."

Armora smiled, tears in her eyes as she took the outstretched hand and stood up. 

The Blade surveyed the group. "Nine against one. Hmm. Annoying." He stepped backwards into the trees. With each step he took, his armor faded from a brilliant gold to a dull brown and red, and he then disappeared altogether. "Are you alright?" Yang asked without turning around. 

"Yeah. It hurts like hell, but it'll grow back," Armora replied. 

"Who was that?" Rasmond asked. "And...are you a Grimm?"

"Yeah," Armora replied. "Um...it's complicated."

"That guy's called the Nameless Blade," Salem said, striding into the path. She gave a curious look to Armora. "But I feel as if you already knew that."

Armora's grip tightened on her sword hilt. 

"Ah. That answers my question." Salem looked to Yang. "We need to head back now. No telling when he's coming back with more Grimm."

"Okay." Yang stumbled, leaning against a tree. She turned and looked at her hand, which was shaking. She slammed her mechanical fist into the bark of the tree, breathing deeply. Her hand came back covered in sticky sap. Sighing, she turned to Salem. "Airbus?"

"Yeah."

"Good, cause my arms are tired," Yang replied, walking past her. 

"Wait a minute, when did you get out here, Aunt Yang?" Rose asked. 

"I flew in just now."

"Do you have your own airbus or something?" Ryn asked. Yang didn't answer. 

"Hurry up now," Salem interrupted. "There will be plenty of time for questions back at the school. Armora, get the scarf back on and...could you cover the stinger? The smoking wound will raise some questions."

Armora looked behind her at the smoking tail. The tail slid back up her shirt as she picked up the scarf and wrapped it around her head. Rose managed to catch her right before she fell. 

Armora sat in a hospital bed. Salem calmly inspected the severed tail head. "Looks fine. Already growing back."

Oscar breathed a sigh of relief. 

"I'd kinda like some answers now," Rasmond asked. 

"I'll start with the simple one," Oscar said. "Armora is a Grimm."

"Hello!" Armora said with a wave. 

"The Grimm come from a black pool. Eighteen years ago, Ruby Rose found a small baby in a basket floating in it. That baby was Armora. Salem and I raised her."

"The ethical questions this raises are immense," Toro pointed out. 

"Most Grimm, like Beowulves and Ursas, can't think for themselves. Some, like Deathstalkers, Nevermore, and Armora, are capable of advanced thought." Oscar sipped a cup of coffee. "Are you doing alright, Yang?"

"Yeah." Yang had sat down in a chair, and hadn't said anything on the Airbus ride, or for the entire meeting so far. "Just...rattled. I'm out of practice when it comes to combat, that's all."

Rose sensed something deeper than that, but figured now was a bad time to press that issue. "Yeah, but what about that guy? The...the Nameless Blade, right?"

"That one is a complicated answer," Salem said. "Especially as it leads to lots of other questions. The basics? A long, long, _long_ time ago, the Grimm had their own...civilization of sorts. He was their general, but then...a crazed maniac took control of the Grimm forces, commanding them to attack humanity, breaking what little was left of a treaty. He refused. I have no idea what he's trying to do now."

Oscar turned to Armora. "Now, I believe here is a question I think you can answer." He leaned forward against the back of the chair he sat on, arms stretched out in front of him holding his cane. "How do you know him?"

"One time, back home, he...just showed up. Then attacked me."

There was a silence. 

"As we fought, he...explained a few things that you didn't appear intent on explaining." Armora glared at him. "Such as your parts in that first battle."

Oscar's knuckles turned white. Everyone sat in silence for a minute. Oscar took a deep breath, then said calmly and levelly, "I did not tell you any of that because it had no consequence anymore. Those battles had long since ended...or so I had thought." 

"Whatever the Blade plans on doing, there will be no stopping him if we can't even get along for a single conversation," Salem interrupted firmly. "Get a grip."

Oscar nodded. "All of you, get some sleep. There will be more on this tomorrow. I received a call from Emerald--she found something that could, theoretically, help us."

"Is it...her?" Yang asked. 

"Yeah. She's still alive." 

"Fuck," Yang muttered. "Way to kick me while I'm down."

"Who is 'she'?" Ryn demanded. 

"An old enemy," Oscar replied. "Who, if all goes right, will be helping us." He looked over the students. "Head on to your dorms now. Trust me when I say, things will only get more tiring from here, and you'll wish for the nights when you could get to sleep."

The students nodded. 

"I, for one, look forward to snoozing the night away," Toro said, stretching. "This is...too much to process all at once."

"I felt the same way," Oscar replied. He chuckled, then rose to his feet. 

"So...that happened," Rose said. "As for what 'that' is, I don't think anyone knows fully."

Armora sat on her bed, curling up her hands and feet into a ball. "You okay?" Rose asked. 

"He...he scares me."

"Yeah, he seemed like a scary dude," Rose said. 

"But...you don't understand..."

"Then explain," Ryn said. "No one would ever understand anything if no one explained anything."

"Grimm...most Grimm are physically incapable of feeling fear. I...I've never been afraid before." She curled tighter into herself, tears dropping from her eyes. "How are you supposed to deal with this?"

"Most people just shrug it off," Rose said. "Fight through it, ya know?"

"No. No, I don't know." 

Ashlynn stepped over and wrapped her hands around Armora in a great hug. "Most people just have to figure it out as they go. Honestly, there's no way to make the fear go away. You just...have to fight through it."

Armora sobbed quietly. "I...guess I don't really deserve such a good team, but...I'm glad I have one."


	8. Til Death do us Part

Emerald Sustrai stepped through the forest--one to the north of Beacon. She didn't know the name--Sapphire Forest, maybe? She looked up at the winged Grimm-creature. It flew ahead of her and landed on something. As she stepped around a tree, she suddenly came out onto a clear path. She looked down to where a cozy cottage stood. The creature had landed on the roof. It screeched at her. Emerald surveyed the house, noting the chimney had smoke coming from it. She walked forward. 

It was a log cabin. The windows were cracked and dirty, and the tiled roof was broken in many places. She knocked lightly on the door. No response. She opened the door--it wasn't locked. The cabin had multiple rooms centered around a main hallway. The first room she looked into had a large wood furnace--presumably connected to the chimney--and a dining table, with three chairs. She stepped into the room, the picked up a small picture sitting on the table. Two people--a man and a woman, both looking happy. She recognized the woman. The man she had an idea of who he was. 

Emerald set the photo down, turning around and returning to the main hallway. A floor board creaked beneath her foot loudly. "Hello?" she called out. She looked into the next room--several bags and crates sat in there. She peeked into the box on top--it was full of wallets and credit cards. Some were clearly stolen, but some others had pictures of the woman, all with different names. 

"Are you here?" Emerald called out. 

The next door was cracked open. Emerald put her hand on the door, closing her eyes. As she'd practiced, she felt the faint glimmer of Aura on the other side of the door. "I'm coming in," she said. She nudged the door open. 

It was a bedroom--a large, queen-sized bed sat in the center of the room, a shuttered window above it. A nightstand stood on each side, a photo on one nightstand. Hanging from the ceiling, tied with strings, were dust crystals. Emerald stopped short of walking into them. They looked to still be active--and explosive. Walking slowly and carefully, Emerald walked through the room, touching the dust only when necessary. She quickly noticed that the floor was covered in dust crystals as well--which she stepped over. None hang over the bed, or even on that half of the room, so she stood unhindered. She reached out, touching the sleeping figure that lay hidden beneath the blankets. The woman stirred, stiffening. 

Emerald turned to the picture, taking a look at it. "Cinder?"

"Go away," Cinder muttered.

Emerald felt up and grabbed Cinder's shoulder. "I reckon you've been in bed for way too long," she said. 

"I don't want to get up."

Emerald yanked the blanket away. Cinder lay there in her pajamas, looking almost exactly as Emerald remembered--half of her face burned and scarred, one arm black, with claws, covered in white spikes. 

But now there was a tired look in her remaining eye as she sighed and looked up at Emerald. "What can you possibly want?"

"To help you."

Cinder pulled back her sleeve, revealing a long scar tracing along her human arm. "You attacked me last time we met. Now you're suddenly proclaiming you want to help?"

"Cinder, it's been twenty-one years. I've had a good long time to think everything over. And I want to help you. Not necessarily to destroy the world, but just...help you...in general." Emerald smiled at Cinder. 

Cinder snorted, rolling over in bed, looking away from Emerald. 

"Cinder, I believe that you're...not right in the head. I believe you could use a friend, now more than ever."

"Please go away."

Emerald sat down on the bed. "You're daughter's had a hard time growing up, you know."

Within seconds, a glass blade was pressed into Emerald's throat. Cinder glared at Emerald, a wing of fire rising from her eye as she held the flaming sword. Emerald looked at Cinder expectantly. 

"Don't. Just...don't. Don't even...go there."

Emerald didn't say anything. The sword disappeared into ashes, floating down and landing on the bed. Cinder sat up, glaring at Emerald. Emerald looked at herself--she'd changed a lot since her time with Cinder. She now wore a green overcoat, and long, white gloves, each with a small green gem in the back. She now wore her hair short. She smiled at Cinder. 

Cinder blinked. "How...how can you be so opening...after everything I did?"

"Cause I believe in mercy. And its not just me. Oscar thinks so, too--as well Ren, Nora, Weiss...even Jaune and Ruby."

Cinder wiped away tears. 

"You've had enough grief, I think. Why not change for the better?" Emerald smiled at Cinder. Cinder reached past her, picking up the photo. It was of her...and a black haired man. Both smiling. Both happy. 

"He didn't get mercy."

"Not everyone does. That's why it should be taken when offered." Emerald wrapped an arm around Cinder's shoulders. Cinder cried, sobbing quietly. She looked silently at the photo. She threw it onto the bed, grabbing Emerald in a great hug. Emerald was surprised, then squeezed Emerald back. "It's okay. It's okay," she whispered. 

Cinder looked up at Emerald. Emerald reached up and moved the hair out of the way of Cinder's burn scars. "Hey, Cinder?"

"Yeah?"

"You're arm spikes are digging into my back."

"Sorry." Cinder released Emerald. "Um...sorry for trying to stab you?"

"I feel like there are worse things you should apologize for," Emerald said, giving Cinder a flat look. Cinder flinched. 

"So...do you plan on going to Beacon in that, or are you going to change into something else?" Emerald asked. Cinder flushed. She rose from bed, stretching. "Well, um...it's been a while since I've done laundry, so my choice of clothing might be...limited."

"Perfectly fine," Emerald replied. Cinder walked through the hanging dust crystals, somehow managing to go at a reasonable pace without blowing herself up. Emerald, meanwhile, took almost five minutes getting through, and did end up stepping on one of the crystals that had fallen to the ground. When she stepped out of the bedroom, Cinder had changed into a brown jacket and scuffed blue jeans, the kind with holes in the knees, and a simple white sash around her chest. Her left sleeve covered her entire left arm, hiding her Grimm arm except for the hand. 

"Did you plan on wearing gloves?" Emerald asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Cinder frowned, looking at her hand. "Oh. Right. Do you have any extras?"

"Yeah, cause I came all this way to give you a pair of gloves," Emerald replied sarcastically. She took off her left glove and tossed it to Cinder, who put it over her left hand. "Ack. Your hand is tiny."

"That hand has more fingers than I remember," Emerald said. "Anything you want to bring?" Cinder looked around her broken house. "No. To many memories I'd rather not revisit."

Emerald didn't push that front. 

As they exited the house, Cinder turned and looked at the wooden cabin. Emerald turned around. "Cinder?"

"Just a second." Cinder stretched out her hands, and red glyphs appeared on the wooden walls. Emerald blinked, confused, as she watched Cinder blow up her house. The wood burned, glass shattered, and the dust crystals hanging in her bedroom fell to the floor, blowing up. Cinder shook herself as she stood in front of the burning hut. She raised one hand to the sky, and dark storm clouds appeared overhead. Rain began to fall over the forest. 

"Now the fire won't spread too far," Cinder explained. 

"Why would you do that?" Emerald burst out. 

"Nothing was left in that house but bad memories and dreams that didn't make the cut," Cinder replied. She turned and smiled at Emerald, rain and tears flowing over her face. "Everything I want to leave behind lay in there."

Emerald blinked. "I didn't bring an umbrella, you know."

"You didn't bring a lot of things," Cinder snapped. 

The two laughed as they headed down the road. Emerald looked up at the Grimm creature, sitting upon a branch. It flew into the air, landing on a branch ahead of them.

"Do you know what that thing is?" Emerald asked. "Last time I saw you, it was with that thing. So I figured following it to lead me to you."

"Salem called it the Morrigan," Cinder explained. "Banshee. Said it screams loudly whenever something is about to die. Whereas other Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, the Morrigan is attracted to the possibility of death. Say, what ever happened with Salem and the rest?"

Emerald's head immediately began to swim. "I should have just enough time to explain everything before we get to Beacon."

Armora sat in the cafeteria. Somehow, the excited chatter from the other students was still there. "Hey. What do the other students know about what happened yesterday? I was...kinda distracted and didn't really pay much attention during the ride home."

"Salem interrupted everyone saying a large horde of Grimm were coming," Rose said around a large mouthful of mashed potatoes. Gulping, she continued. "She said this big dramatic thing about knowing when to take a few steps back, to get out of the way and stuff."

"I don't think anyone asked about Professor Yang suddenly appearing," Ryn said. 

"Hey," Rasmond said, sitting down at the table next to them. "How's it going?"

"Great," Rose replied, giving a thumbs up. 

"And, um, how's your...tail?" Rasmond asked, looking at Armora. Armora leaned back in her chair. "Fine. It grew back."

"Good for you," Roberts said, giving her a thumbs up. He and Rose fist bumped each other. 

Armora raised a skeptical eyebrow, then continued. "So...today's Saturday, right?"

"First day off of the weekend," Rasmond said. "Thank the gods, cuz I was getting tired of all the team-leader management stuff."

Rose fell forward onto the table, stretching her hands across the wood. "Any ideas for what we could do? I mean, forty-eight hours of free-time. We could head into Vale and get a meal, maybe?"

"You just had breakfast," Armora pointed out. "Also, I only need to eat once a month. And only a small amount, too."

Rasmond tapped her fingers against the table, stirring her own mashed potatoes with her spoon. "I was kinda planning on calling home to Mom and Dad. You know, taking the opportunity I had to have a good long phone call with them."

"A good idea," Ryn said. "My mom was kinda worried about me heading to Beacon, but really wanted me too. I feel like I should call her."

"My mom and dad left on a mission right before I left for Beacon," Rose said. "They said they'd show up for the party at the end of the month."

"I actually had some shopping I wanted to get done," Ashlynn said. "I planned on doing that over the weekend."

"Hmm..." Rasmond thought for a minute. "Ryn and I can go in and get our calls done. Roberts, you, Rose, Patricia, and Toro can, perhaps, go get your meal. And..."

"Armora, would you accompany me? I don't have enough arms for shopping, and you swing around that broadsword pretty easily."

"I...don't really have anything better to do," Armora said. "Shopping for what?"

"Shopping."

Armora's eyebrows narrowed into slits. "Excuse me?"

"Shopping!" Ashlynn cried, lifting up several bags. 

"I regret saying yes," Armora said, struggling to keep all of her bags in check. 

Ryn walked into the CCT tower, pressed a button in the elevator, and went to the top. "See ya on the way out," Rasmond said. They separated, Ryn walking to one of the computer terminals and turning it on. "Hello," said the computer voice. "What can I help you with?"

"I'd like to call Velvet Scarlatina," Ryn replied. 

"Sure thing. Just one second." The screen beeped for a few seconds, then lit up with a familiar bunny-eared face. "Ryn! So nice to see you. How have you been?"

Ryn sighed, happy to see her mother's face again. "Great, Mom. Just great. Beacon really is everything you said it was. How's life in Vacuo been treating you?"

"Well, four different things have tried to kill and eat me this morning, and not one of them were Grimm," Velvet replied with a laugh. She held up her Scroll letting Ryn get a view from behind her. "We've been keeping this camp safe. Honestly, I'm more worried about the Grimm. I saw a granny kill a giant sand crab with a dinner fork."

Ryn chuckled. "You're kidding, right?"

Velvet grinned. "Nope. Guess what we're having for dinner tonight?"

Both laughed. "Oh, yeah. One thing I wanted to ask you about...have you met Armora Gigas?"

Velvet frowned. "Oh, yeah. Her. Oscar's daughter, right?"

"Adopted."

"Ah. What about her?"

"She's our team leader, and I was kinda curious," Ryn explained. 

"Well, I never knew Oscar too well in the first place," Velvet replied. "He was a stranger, but I did hear something about Ozpin one time. Oh, he was the headmaster during the Fall."

"Ah." _Interesting_. "We've been doing pretty well. Excelling at class--Ashlynn's lagging behind a bit in history, but mostly because she keeps falling asleep. Anatomy's...interesting."

"I only met that Salem person once, and she was..." Velvet paused. "Indescribable." She turned around. "It's Ryn, Yatsu," she said to someone off screen. She tilted the screen to Ryn's father, the huge Yatsuhashi Daichi. "Ah. Hello!" Yatsuhashi said. 

"Hey, Dad," Ryn greeted. "I've just been talking about my time at Beacon." 

"Ah. You really oughta call more often," Yatsuhashi said. "I've been worried about you."

Ryn immediately felt a twinge of a cross between guilt and anger--she got into too many fights with her father to be comfortable talking to him on a regular basis. _Part of why I went to Beacon_, she reminded herself. "Yeah, well, I've been busy. Class and stuff."

"You gotten into any scuffles there?" Velvet asked. "I mean, with more than just Grimm?"

"Umm...Blake does this thing where we have practice duels with other students," Ryn replied. "Um...have you heard of something called the Nameless Blade?"

"The old fairy tale?" Yatsuhashi asked. 

"Fairy tale?"

"Yeah. You can probably get a copy from the library. It's been a while since I read it." Yatsuhashi thought for a second. "Yeah. It was a sword. Or...it was the guy holding the sword. He fought something called the False Savior."

"Okay."

"Why you asking? Is everything okay?" He gave her a worried look. 

"Um...yeah. Everything's fine." She looked around at the other people in the tower. "It's fine."

"Yeah, I feel like it's not," Yatsuhashi replied. Velvet smacked him. "We can talk more at the end of the month. Kay? Also, do you know anything about who else is going to be there?"

"Umm...Professors Blake and Yang, I know. I believe Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. I don't know who else...I think the rest of the Heroes?"

"Hmm. Okay. I've been trying to get to talk to Ruby for a while, but haven't been able to."

Armora hefted the bags of groceries. "No way in the nine circles of hell you could possibly need all this shit."

"I mean, not right away," Ashlynn replied. "But in the end it will all be useful."

Armora looked from one hand full of grocery bags to the other. "How?"

Ashlynn turned around. "Hey, Mom! You're back!"

Emerald Sustrai smiled at her. "Yeah. Took a little longer than expected."

"Eh? Who's that?" Ashlynn looked past Emerald to the woman next to her--a black haired woman with a scar over half her face. 

"That's...uh...complicated," Emerald said, rubbing her hair. The woman stepped around her, standing in front of Ashlynn. "Cinder, what are you--"

The woman, evidently Cinder, kneeled down, touching Ashlynn's face. 

"Um..." Ashlynn blinked. "Who exactly are you?"

Cinder smiled. "I'm...I'm your mother."


	9. Love and Hate

There was a long, stunned awkward silence.

"I'm sorry, could you...could you repeat that?" Ashlynn asked. Emerald stepped over, putting a hand on Ashlynn's shoulder. "We can talk about this inside."

An awkward minute later, the four stood in Oscar's office with the headmaster serving up cups of coffee. "So," Ashlynn said, sipping a cup of coffee, fully knowing that it was very late in the day--the sun was setting outside the window. "Could...could you repeat that?"

Cinder sipped her own coffee. "I am your mom."

Ashlynn blinked. "I mean, explain! Give me something to go on here!"

Cinder flinched. "Well, there...isn't too much to explain. What do you want to know?"

"Why did you leave me with M--Emerald?" Ashlynn asked.

"After--after your father died, I--I didn't have the strength to raise you. I was grief-stricken, tired, and alone." Cinder sipped her coffee. "I...felt like Emerald could give you a better life than I could."

Emerald put a comforting hand on Cinder's shoulder. "You did the best you could."

"I've never been strong enough for anything I've wanted," Cinder said. She looked to Ashlynn. "I...I don't know what I'm saying anymore." She laughed. "Oh. Sorry. It's...it's been awhile since I've had anyone to talk to."

"I...I'm just..." Ashlynn threw her hands into the air. "Just like...what have you been doing? What....how..."

"Not much," Cinder replied. "Is there...anything more specific you wanted to know?"

"I...I..." Ashlynn sat back in her chair, trying to clear her head. She sorted through all her questions, then finally found one to ask. "Why come now?"

Cinder looked at her. "That's an easy one. Emerald...Emerald asked, and I felt like now was a good time to start over. Live a new life, you know?"

"Not the fact that there's a gold-clad super-Grimm running around, wreaking havoc?" Ashlynn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. What?" Cinder looked to Emerald, who frowned. "How do you know about that?" she asked.

"He cut off my tail," Armora explained, sipping her coffee.

"Faunus?" Cinder asked.

"Grimm."

"What?" Cinder rubbed her head. "I...I don't understand. Em, please explain."

"Well...I'll leave that for Oscar," Emerald replied.

Cinder looked to Oscar, who said simply, "I haven't had enough coffees yet."

"Kay. Anything else?" Cinder looked at the two young girls in front of her. "Anything?"

Ashlynn put her two hands together, took a deep breath, then asked, "Who was my father?"

Cinder took a deep breath. "A hero. At least to me."

"But...but who..." Ashlynn cut off mid sentence. Cinder's hands were shaking. Her breathing was shallow. "Oh. I'm sorry. I...I didn't mean..."

"It's fine," Cinder interrupted quickly. "I'm...I just have trouble. Too many bad memories."

Ashlynn threw her arms around Cinder in a hug. "Sorry. I didn't realize."

"It's...it's fine," Cinder said, surprised. Hesitantly, she hugged Ashlynn back.

"Ow," Ashlynn said, jerking up, rubbing her back. "Your hand has spikes on it."

"So I noticed," Cinder said with an aggravated sigh. "Where's everyone else?"

"Our other team mates--well, Ryn went off to call her parents, and I think Sunny went off with one of the other teams to go get lunch," Armora explained.

"I was talking about the teachers," Cinder interrupted. "I don't actually know who either of those two are."

"Blake was out doing perimeter scouting, and Yang was reclining in her office," Oscar replied. "I'll be sure to catch them up on everything."

"Is that it? Weren't there, like, eight of them?"

"Weiss is in Atlas, managing the Schnee Dust Company," Oscar explained. "Ruby and Jaune are on a mission. Ren and Nora are living in a small village over by Haven. And Qrow died ten years ago."

"Ah." Cinder leaned back in her chair. "Whew. I am tired."

"My arms feel like I've been walking on them instead of my hands," Armora complained. "Ashlynn's 'shopping trip' was exhausting."

"It was fun," Ashlynn replied.

"It was torture," Armora groaned.

Ashlynn rose. "Hey, one last question?"

"Shoot," Cinder replied.

"Why are you wearing one of Mo--Emerald's gloves?"

Cinder took the glove off and tossed it to Emerald. She flexed her Grimm arm, wiggling the fingers. "That answer your question?"

"Yeah, but it just leads to more questions," Ashlynn asked. "Why...why do you have a Grimm arm? And...are you the 'she' that everyone was talking about the other day? The...the 'old enemy' that Professor Pine's referred to?"

"Yes, she is," Oscar interrupted. "But she's...changing around now."

"Nice work with the office," Cinder said, looking directly up at the glass roof, and the clockwork gears above. "It's in fewer pieces than I remember."

Oscar glared at her. "Despite you're best efforts, we managed to recreate it."

"But you never figured out how to remove the Wyvern," Cinder countered. "Which is, in fact, still alive, by the way."

Oscar took a deep breath. "Cinder. Can you...can you just not?"

Cinder chuckled, sipping her drink.

Emerald laughed. "You two should head on to bed. There are some things that need to be discussed."

"Like the Blade?" Armora asked. "Things that we probably ought to know about?"

"You already lied to me once on that front," Oscar said coldly. "Now. We have some things we need to talk about. So, go on."

There was a stunned silence. Armora flinched back, then exited the room with Ashlynn.

"Harsh," Cinder commented.

"I am not telling you how to treat your daughter, so please, for once in your life, show someone else the same respect," Oscar told her. He sighed, sitting down in his office chair.

"We have a problem," Emerald affirmed. "This gold guy--Nameless Blade, right?"

"Yeah. That's him."

"I think I figured out what he's doing. Cinder explained something about the Emerald Forest--and what lay in its center."

Oscar frowned. "Alright then. Continue."

"The Emerald Forest is magical in nature--it was created from an enchanted emerald. The forest grew around the emerald. That emerald was destroyed."

"Yes, but why would he want to destroy that gem?" Oscar asked.

"The gem was created by the Older God," Cinder explained. "From the God of Light and Life and all that shit. It wasn't for any real purpose--it was a declaration of war. Aimed at humanity...aimed for the other Grimm. Every other Grimm that wants to destroy humanity will rally to his side."

"That is bad," Oscar stated. "Very, very bad."

"We've got to evacuate the students," Emerald said. "If they stay here, then his army's going to kill them."

"No," Cinder said. Both looked at her. "That shows fear. Keeping the students will keep him from attacking--but racing everyone out will just bring down the hordes of Grimm on an understaffed Beacon Academy." Cinder looked Oscar in the eyes. "Salem was beating humanity for millions of years. That's how--if everyone's afraid, then who will be left to fight?"

"I will have to consider all this," Oscar said, leaning forward on his hands. "But for now, I'm going to take a page from my students' book and head on to bed. As you two should."

The Blade sharpened his sword. Multiple Grimm hovered around him. He looked up as a powerful presence entered the clearing they stood in.

"Blade," it hissed. The dark shape began walking around the edge of the clearing--Grimm hastily moved to get out of its way. "What do you have planned this time?"

"A war," the Blade said. "Against Ozma and Salem."

"Ah. And why call me?"

"Because we are brothers," the Blade replied.

"And why should I help?" the form asked. One long clawed hand reached out and sawed through the bark of a tree as the Grimm passed.

"Because your people need you."

"You'll have to try harder than that," the Grimm laughed.

"Because it is what you should do."

"Hmm, getting warmer."

"Because hundreds will die."

The Grimm stopped.

"Human and Grimm alike, many will die and perish and be left behind in the dust of a new world," the Blade whispered.

"Ah. That..." The Grimm laughed. It turned to look at the Savior, its small white-crusted face looking him in the eye. Its mouth was sideways, its grin going from its chin to its forehead, one glowing red eye on each side of the smile. The bulbous body moved, using its legs and its long, thin hands. "That is a reason for me to help you. You have my support, Blade."

He was called the Nameless Blade. Why everyone decided to call him Blade, he would never know. But that wasn't something he would say to the creature standing in front of him.

"Who else is coming?" it asked, beginning its circling once more.

"The Forgotten, for one. Ursas and Beowulves aplenty. Some Deathstalkers and Nevermores. But the Goliaths stay out of it."

"Ah. Did you get Scylla?"

"Scylla would not be beneficial to us," the Blade replied.

"Ah. That is so."

"But...I did manage to gain the support of a human terrorist," the Blade said. "Neo Politan. Mass murderer, robber. She has some grudges against Ozma and Salem herself."

"When even humans fight other humans, who can expect them to win?" the Great Thing asked. looking at the Blade. "Ha ha ha...You have picked the perfect time to call me, Blade."

So he had.


	10. Missing in Action

"Alright then," Blake Belladonna said. "Marcus, I do hope now that you're money is officially where your mouth is now that Armora has single-handedly taken out your entire team on her own. Can anyone tell me her best moves that allowed her to win?"

It had been two weeks--third week of the year, and the week before the big party at the end of the month. As far as Ashlynn was concerned, no more had been heard from the Blade, but Armora and Oscar were on non-speaking terms. As for herself and Cinder, the two had been getting along well. Cinder had, apparently, moved in to Beacon. Yang and Blake had done their parts in forgiving her--as for what she did, Cinder had simply said, "A lot," when Ashlynn had asked about it. Outside of that, they talked--Ashlynn talked about what she'd been doing, and Cinder talked(a bit) about what she'd been doing. 

Ashlynn had updated Cinder in her head from _weird_ to _lonely_. 

Rasmond had, of course, immediately raised a hand. "She timed her attacks. If she had gone on the offense early, she most likely would have lost, but she didn't. She blocked and let them wear themselves down first, as she was the one ready for an endurance match."

"Correct. When against multiple opponents of--" Blake glanced at Marcus. "--roughly equal skill to you, it is generally best to start the fight on the defense--especially for Armora, who specializes at defense, and, like all her other matches, ended it without a scratch. Now, as that match took quite a bit of time, we don't really have much more time for anything else--Miss Rose, I'd like to talk to you, so do stay behind please."

Rose took a deep breath, then just nodded to the rest of her team. "Go on. Save me a seat. I'll catch up." She jumped down from the back row seats and walked up to Blake. "Yes, Professor?"

"Please, no need with the formalities," Blake chuckled. 

"Okay, Auntie Blake," Rose said with a chuckle. 

Blake smiled. "Have you been practicing?"

"Yeah. I...think I've gotten good at measuring out exact amounts? I managed to draw a picture into a tree without cutting it down." 

"Good work. This will be something you will always need to practice, I'm afraid."

"Okay. But, uh, I've been thinking about everything you've told me about restraint...and...does it have anything to do with why Aunt Yang doesn't fight anymore?"

Blake stiffened immediately. Her ears flattened, then wiggled. "Well, I'm sure you'd probably have to ask her about that. Even if I knew the answer, it is rude to be talking about people behind their backs."

"Yeah, it's just that...well, she stopped fighting a while back, you've been lecturing me about restraint, and Mom has a giant whopper of a scar over half her face, so...it all adds up to me being quite a bit timid of asking her."

Blake knelt down and put a hand on Rose's shoulder. "If she feels like answering, she will, Sunny. She's always been honest with herself and with those around her--keeping secrets isn't really in her nature, as you've probably noticed."

"Can she fly?" Rose asked. 

"...Anyone can fly, if they get hit hard enough from behind with blunt force," Blake dodged. "But, uh, yeah. Ask her about that one, too." She patted Rose on the back, then stood up and walked off. "She's in her office," Blake said, pointing. 

Rose nodded, then looked from the hallway to the cafeteria, to Yang's office. Before she could change her mind, she walked over to the door to Yang's office and knocked. "Um, Aunt Yang?"

"Come in," Yang called out. Rose opened the door slowly and walked in. 

Yang kept her office messy--large boxes seated on the floor and large posters of shirtless wrestlers hung on the walls. Yang had taken off her robotic arm and was in the middle of wiping it off with a rag. She looked up at Rose. "Sunny. Was there something you needed?"

"Um, I was...kinda curious about something, and Auntie Blake said to ask you..."

"Okaaaay," Yang said slowly, raising a suspicious eyebrow. "Fire away."

"Why is it that...you stopped fighting?"

Yang wiped her mechanical arm for a long minute. "It just didn't suit me."

Now Rose was the one suspicious. She folded her arms, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry, Aunt Yang, but you're still just as terrible of a liar as ever."

Yang sighed. She put her mechanical arm back onto her elbow, rubbing it. She punched out to the right. "Ruby and I...had gone on a mission. We'd been out hunting a Grimm for three weeks--but this wasn't any normal Grimm. It stalked in the shadows, striking whenever one of us tried to sleep. But it always crept away before we could kill it. Nothing we could do could catch it--no trap, no speed, no trick, no rest for us.

"By the end of those three weeks, were both tired as hell and done with all that shit. Ruby...Ruby said to just head home, that we couldn't handle it like we were. We needed to rest and recover. I...disagreed. Ruby and I rarely argue, but...that time, boy...we both said some really hurtful things. The argument escalated until finally...I lost what little temper I had left, and I hit her." 

Rose gulped. 

Yang had her eyes closed as she finished fixing her mechanical arm to her elbow. "Ruby was pretty quick to forgive, once we got back to a town and got some rest--so was everyone else--Blake, Jaune, Weiss." She trailed off. "I never forgave myself. Since then, I haven't been able to fight--every time, I remember myself hitting her. Every time I see her, all I can focus on is that damned scar." She took a deep breath. "Dammit. Just once I'd like to not have horrible flashbacks to nightmarish events."

"That's why you never come by home anymore," Rose realized. Yang nodded. "After that, I just...I couldn't be around her. It took a while for me to let anyone get near me--Blake eventually managed to weasel her way next to me, to talk to me, help me." 

"I guess this is just something both of us have to deal with," Rose stated. "But, you're fine. It was one time--it's unlikely to happen again."

"Doesn't change what I did or how I feel about it," Yang replied, rubbing her wrists. 

"Here's an idea," Rose suggested, "in a week, at the party, you just meet up with Mom and talk. Just you and her. Get through a night spending time with her, and I'm sure you'll be back to 100%." She pulled out her scroll. "I can call her--" 

Yang grabbed Rose's wrist. "No one's been able to contact your mother in a little over a month."

Rose blinked. "What...what are you saying?"

Yang sighed, releasing Rose's hand. "Currently, she's missing in action," Yang said. "I...I doubt anything could take her down, but please, be prepared for the worst."

Rose looked at Yang with wide eyes. "I...I...but she's not..."

"Personally, I think the worst that'll happen is she's a bit late," Yang told her. "But please. Be aware."

Rose blinked at Yang, then rushed out of the room. "Sunny, wait!" Yang called out. She stood up, looking after Rose. "Fuck," she muttered, sitting back down, resting her head on one of her hands. "I fucked up."

Armora knocked on the door to the room. "Hey, Sunny? You didn't come for lunchdf. We managed to save some food for you." She stopped upon hearing quiet sobbing from the other side of the door. Quickly, she burst into the room. "Sunny?" 

Sunny sat back on her bed, sobbing as she looked at the old book full of photos. Armora rushed over to her. "Sunny? What's wrong?"

Ashlynn and Ryn were seconds behind Armora. Rose touched the old picture of her mother and Peni Polendina. "I, uh, talked to Aunt Yang. While talking, I mentioned Mom, and apparently, Mom hasn't been heard from in a month, and no one had bothered to tell me. So, my mom...she may or may not be dead, and I don't know--she could have died weeks ago, and I still think I would only be hearing about it now!" She choked, sobbing. 

Armora threw her arms around Rose. "It's fine. I'm sure your mother is fine."

"My mom sometimes goes radio silent for a long time, while out on missions," Ashlynn said. "One month is nothing. I'm sure your mom's fine."

"Yeah, well, apparently she was hunting something tough enough to make Aunt Yang worried," Rose snapped. "And yet...still! No one told me! No one even bothered to tell me!"

"Damn Oscar and his secrets," Armora snarled. "Always hiding something, the bastard." The fury in her voice drew everyone's attention. Armora took off the scarf, looking Rose in the eyes. "Come on, Rose. Your mother is fine. Ruby Rose is a tough woman--she can stand up for herself. She also has magic Grimm-killing powers, so, unlikely any Grimm could have taken her down."

"She has...what?"

"I've been struggling to not tell any of Oscar's secrets, and you know what? I don't give a fuck. Oscar can jump out his office window, for all I care. Your mother has magic powers that destroy Grimm."

"O-Okay." Rose coughed. "Ack. Gave myself a sore throat." She rubbed her neck. Ashlynn was quick to hand her a cup of water, which Rose gratefully drank. "Say, did those magic Grimm-killing powers ever bother you before?"

"Imagine finding a gun that's bullets only kill Faunus," Armora said. "That's roughly how I felt."

"Ah," Ryn said, wiggling her rabbit ears. "Not good."

Cinder Fall sat on a bench outside Beacon Academy. "Enjoying the view?" Salem asked. Cinder didn't bother asking how she'd gotten behind her. "The place is actually kinda pretty when no one's trying to blow it up."

"Yeah," Salem agreed. 

"It kinda looks like--like a castle."

"Ozma has always liked castles, so yes, that was probably intentional," Salem replied. 

"Huh." Cinder leaned back in her seat. "Any plans for the big party going on next week?"

"Not really," Salem replied. She jumped over the back of the bench, sitting down next to Cinder. "You?"

"Me neither," Cinder said with a chuckle. "But, well, there's food and drink, and I liked the last party I went to."

"The one where you hacked into Ozpin's computers and downloaded a shit ton of confidential information?" Salem asked. 

"I mean, the dance was pretty nice," Cinder said. 

"Did not figure you for one who likes dancing," Salem stated. 

"Me and Mercury danced a bit," Cinder said. "I had a dance with Emerald, too. Reasonably certain she was into me."

"Reasonably certain she still is," Salem said with a laugh. 

Cinder had never heard Salem laugh before. It was unnerving. "What do you think is going to happen? With the Blade?"

Salem sobered. "Presumably? He's going to attack. He and his army are going to fall, but not before inflicting heavy casualties--most likely on the students." She spoke quietly. "Honestly, the hardest part about the whole change-your-ways is learning to care. To care about each and every one of them that's going to die." She tapped the bench idly. "Let me tell you a secret. Since I learned that the Blade was making a move, I've been preparing letters. One for the parents of every student in Beacon, ready to tell them that one or more of their children has died. I'm only halfway done." She wiped a single, lone tear from her eye. "There are a lot of students here. Some will die, yes--but the Blade will fail in his plan."

"I hope so," Cinder replied. 


	11. The Dance

Rose was walking outside when a large stick hit her in the head. She looked up to see Blake sitting in a tree. "Auntie Blake?"

"Oh, hi Rose. I was just reading."

"Are you stuck?"

"...maybe."

Rose sighed. "Why do you keep climbing trees if you keep getting stuck?"

"...I wanted a quiet place to read."

Rose sighed again. "I'll...I'll go get Aunt Yang." She strolled off at a brisk pace. After she left, Emerald came over, crossing her arms over her chest. "Really, Blake?"

"What?" Blake snapped. 

"Blake, you really need to fix this," Emerald said. "What is this, third time?"

"Second," Blake snapped defensively. 

"You climbed a tree, then got stuck in it," Emerald pointed out. "Also, I've seen you jump from tree to tree before with ease."

"I'm not jumping from tree to tree. I'm trying to jump from tree to ground."

"Can't you just...you know...jump?"

"I don't want to hurt myself."

"Aren't cats supposed to land on their feet?" Emerald pointed out. 

"I'm a Faunus, and that is racist," Blake growled. 

"You're stuck in a tree, crying out at passersby for help," Emerald countered, giving her a flat look. 

"...fair point."

It was twenty-four hours until the end of the month, and the big dance that Oscar had promised. Students were talking in that excited, hushed voice that everyone seemed to use. Armora leaned back in her chair. She had been to events like this before--though last time, she'd been eight. Then again, her eight-year old head thought like she did now. Mentally, she'd aged pretty quickly. 

"I can't figure out who to go to the dance with," Ashlynn said, stirring her food. "I've got two people waiting on a response...and they're both pretty nice guys..."

"Why is everyone so fascinated with dancing?" Armora asked. 

"Well...its kinda...have you ever asked anyone else about this?" Ryn asked, struggling with words. 

"Yeah. No one has given me any answers I understood," Armora told her. 

"Well, most people will be going and dancing with other people--usually people they're into," Rose pointed out. "Its basically a normal party, but if you happen to like someone, you can ask 'em to the dance, and if they like you back, they'll go with you, perhaps."

"Are you going with someone?" Ashlynn asked. 

"Roberts," Rose replied. 

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. We went on a date the other day, and we decided to see how far this goes," Rose explained. 

Armora looked over at Ryn. "Do you have a partner?"

"I've...got someone in mind, but I don't know if they'll go with," Ryn replied, leaning against one arm and staring off into space. 

"Well, I guess I'll just pick one..." Ashlynn said, thinking. "They're both nice, really."

"Do you guys have partners for the dance?" Armora asked curiously as team TRPR came over and sat down. 

"I'm not really into that sort of thing," Toro said. 

"Patty asked me, and I didn't really have any other plans," Rasmond replied. "Well, she texted me, in any case." Patricia waved. 

"Huh." Armora folded her arms. 

"The other guests are going to arrive today," Rasmond pointed out. "I know there was an extensive list."

"After breakfast, we could head out and watch for them arriving," Rose suggested. 

"I know the parents of every student were invited," Toro said. "It's been a month since I've seen Mom and Dad..." He stopped as Rose stiffened a bit. "Uh...everything okay?"

"Yeah," Rose said hurriedly. "Come on. I don't wanna miss any of the arrivals--" She stopped. An echoing, low rumble filled the building. "An Airbus?" Rose asked. Quickly, the eight students rushed out the door in time to see a massive jet flying over and landing a short walk away from Beacon. 

"Is that all the guests at once?" Robert asked, rubbing his head. 

"No," came Yang's voice. She and Blake stepped out next to them, Yang shielding her eyes from the sun. "It's one."

"One? One person, in that massive ship?" Armora asked. 

Yang looked at her. "The Ice Queen has arrived." She and Blake stepped down the staircase and began striding to the jet. 

A ramp lowered down, and several Atlesian Knights walked down, taking positions at the side of the ramp. 

Then a woman walked down, hands clasped behind her back. She wore a blue-and white shirt and skirt. Her long white hair was tied back in a pony tail, and a small, blue crown was seated upon her forehead. At her side was a sheathed sword--a rapier, it looked like. Over her shirt she wore a tight-fitting white jacket. She had long, cuffed sleeves and tight white gloves. 

"Been too long, Ice Queen," Yang called out as she neared the jet. 

The strange woman smiled. She stepped off the ramp, high heels clicking against the concrete. "Way too long, Xia Long."

"How's it been in Atlas, Weiss?" Blake asked with a smile, one hand on her hip as TRPR and SAAR came over. 

"Busy." Weiss laughed. "Oh, so busy. Running a massive company is tiring." She looked over at the two teams. "Hmm? Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Sunny, Sunny Rose. This is Ashlynn Fall, Armora Gigas, and Ryn Scarlatina, and in that team is Rasmond Rio, Patricia Scarlet...and I don't know you're last names."

"Toro Valkyrie, and this doofus is Robert Storm," Toro introduced. 

"Ah. Nice to meet all of you." She turned to Sunny. "Ruby's daughter, right?"

"Yup."

"You look more like Jaune," Weiss commented. She looked to Blake and Yang. "Who else has arrived?"

"No one, actually," Yang answered. "Meaning you might need to move that thing. It's...kinda blocking the landing spots." 

Weiss turned around. "Hey! Circle the ship back around and find another space to park it."

The pilot, who had appeared at the top of the ramp, nodded and ran back into the ship. Weiss nodded to the rest of them. "Let's walk away from here."

They began walking back towards the school. "Anything I've missed?" she asked casually. 

"Armora soloed an entire other team in a duel," Yang replied. "The Emerald Forest is also missing, and...Cinder's back."

Weiss stopped in her tracks, looking Yang in the eyes. "Are you screwing with me, or is she actually back?"

"She's on the good guy side now," Yang said hurriedly. 

Weiss didn't appear comforted. 

Mercury Black tilted the front mirror back a little to see the passengers getting into the back of his taxi. He wore his usual, tuxedo and pants and gloves. "Hmm. And where to today?"

"Beacon Academy," came the reply. 

"Ah. I was just about to head there myself," he replied, starting up the car. "If you'd waited til tomorrow, you could've crashed the party."

"Oh? So we didn't miss that, then?" she asked, a sly grin on her face. 

"Nope. Don't know where you've been, but you did not miss it. Gonna be a big deal, from what I've heard. Especially because it looks like an uninvited guest is trying to get in."

Her eyes narrowed. 

Mercury laughed, pressing the gas pedal. "Yeah. A few extra guests have been invited, and there's one uninvited fellow who's trying to cause some problems."

"Hmm. This is going to be fun."

Weiss crossed her legs, sipping from a thing of coffee. "Ah. Nice." 

"Need anything else?" Blake asked. They sat on a balcony connected to Blake's office. 

"No, thank you," Weiss replied. "I'm interested in the situation here, though. Any news?"

"Well, a very dangerous super-Grimm is attacking the school," Yang said. 

"Anything new?"

"Hmm...Armora Gigas? Her? Scarf girl? She's that baby Ruby found over in the Lake."

"Ooh." Weiss smiled. "Interesting. She decided to become a Huntsman?"

"Yeah. And there's the big dance going on tomorrow."

"Anything planned for it?" Weiss asked. "Any...other events?"

"None that I can think of," Yang replied. "Guests are going to be arriving throughout the day. Ren and Nora said they're on the next Airbus inbound. They met up with team CFVY. Velvet and Yatsu got married."

"Good for them," Weiss said. 

"Team SSSN was with 'em, too, in case you still got a thing for Neptune," Yang said with a mischievous wink. 

Weiss gave her a cold glare. "Yang Xiao Long, I dumped him, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"Who else is on the next Airbus?" Weiss asked Blake. 

"My old friend Ilia was on it. Let's see...we didn't know too many other people, did we? Emerald's already here with Cinder, Mercury is a short car drive away, and Neo's...well, she's not coming."

"What about Ruby and Jaune?" Weiss asked. "I haven't heard from them in a while."

Blake and Yang looked at each other. "They're missing. It's been over a month without any communications to or from them."

Weiss looked from the two of them. "I'm not worried about them physically. Ruby can take on any Grimm, but...over the last few times I've seen her, she's been changing."

"I haven't talked to her in a long time," Yang said. "I...I wouldn't be able to say anything on it."

"And if the change was subtle enough, no one near her all the time would be able to notice," Blake added. "How do you mean, changing?"

"Getting more violent. Ruthless." Weiss grimaced, sipping her tea. "Last time I saw her fight something, it scared me. She's almost an entirely different person."

"We've all become different people," Yang said, shrugging. "If you're really worried about it, you can ask her..." She trailed off. 

"It's going to be a long few days," Blake said with a sigh, looking up as an Airbus flew overhead. Her eyes trailed down to the road leading up to Beacon. As the Airbus landed, a small, yellow car drove up the driveway. "Ah. That is probably Mercury."

From their vantage point, they saw Mercury get out of the car. Then, he opened the back door, and two more figures stepped out. 

"Who's that?" Weiss asked. 

"Dunno. Let's go find out," Yang replied. 

Team SAAR sat on a bench outside Beacon watching the parents come up. Cinder sat next to them, idly watching people come up. 

Velvet Scarlatina came over, with the rest of her team following behind, and grabbed Ryn in a hug. "Ah, it's been so long!"

"Moooom," Ryn groaned, turning a bright scarlet. 

Velvet released her daughter, then looked over the other four people. "Lets see...if I had to guess--you must be Sunny. That hair's a dead giveaway."

"You got me."

"Ah...Armora, right? You're a lot taller than I remember."

"It's been ten years," Armora pointed out. 

"And that leaves you to be Ashlynn. And...Cinder?" Velvet frowned, one hand on her hip. 

Cinder raised a hand in greeting. "Hey. Cinder Fall. Velvet Scarlatina, right?"

"Yeah. This is Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi." Velvet looked over her shoulder, then turned all the way around. Everyone turned to look as three figures came walking up. 

"Mr. Mercury?" Ashlynn said. 

"Mom!" Rose cried. She rushed past everyone, grabbing the red-clad figure in a hug. Ruby Rose smiled, hugging her daughter back. "Relax. I haven't been gone for that long."

"Everyone was worried about you," Rose said. 

"It's fine--I just forgot to charge my Scroll before I left, that's all," Ruby laughed. She looked up at Velvet. "Ah. Velvet. Coco..." 

Her eyes rested on Cinder. 

Cinder looked Ruby in the eyes. "Ruby Rose. Been a long, long time."

"Over twenty years," Ruby said quietly. "Twenty long years, Cinder."

A quiet tension filled the air. Finally, Ruby and Cinder both laughed. 

"We've both changed a lot since then, haven't we?" Cinder asked. "How's your eye?"

Ruby grinned at her. "How's your arm?"

"Ha ha ha," Cinder said dryly. "It's not funny cause that one was your fault."

"Oh, its extra funny because that one was my fault," Ruby laughed. 

Jaune stepped around Ruby, looking at Cinder. "New outfit?"

Ruby stumbled, catching herself quickly. "Oof. I need to lie down. I've been standing up too long." She gave a nod to the rest of them. "If you excuse me..." She walked past everyone. 

"Is the limp new?" Cinder asked. 

In response, Ruby held up one hand, middle finger extended in wide proclamation of her feelings. "She got bitten in the leg," Jaune explained. "She's fine, but she'll be limping for a bit..."

"Talk about karma," Cinder muttered. 

Jaune gave her a baleful glare, then headed after Ruby. 

"Did Mom just flip you off?" Rose asked. 

"I'm surprised she only used one hand," Mercury commented. 

"What did you do to her, to piss her off that much?" Coco asked. 

"That's a bit too involved for right now," Cinder replied. 

"How about everyone settle in to their rooms?" Oscar asked as he came out of Beacon. "The dance is tomorrow, but it is quite tiring to make it all the way out here, which is why I set it up for the guests to arrive today."

**The dance night**

Guests and students had began walking in from their outside rooms to the ballroom. Old friends caught up with each other, talking and laughing over shared experiences. Ruby, Jaune, and Rose stood together at a table, chatting with Ren, Nora, and Toro. From her vantage point, Armora quickly found Ashlynn and her partner for the dance--a tall person she didn't know. Cinder sat with Emerald and Mercury. After a minute, Mercury extended one hand, which Cinder took, and the two began dancing. 

"Surveying the competition?" Ryn asked, walking up to her. Armora turned to face her. Ryn was wearing an elaborate dark red dress. She wore a small flower in her hair, right beside her rabbit ears. Armora, meanwhile, had swapped out of her suit of armor and traded it for a jacket and jeans. Just as covering, but less conspicuous than the slate gray armor. She still wore the scarf, however. 

"I still don't see the point of dancing, but I like that people are having fun together," Armora commented. 

"Well, Armora, I've been wanting to ask you..." Ryn shuffled nervously from one foot to the other. "Would you..."

"...like to dance with you?" Armora guessed. Ryn paused, then nodded. "Uh, yeah."

Armora sighed. "You might have thought you were being conspicuous with the whole 'someone on my mind' thing, but you weren't."

"So...would you?"

"Ryn, I'm...I'm not like you, Ryn."

"...not gay, you mean?" Ryn asked. 

"No. I mean, yes. I...ack! English never has the words I need!" Armora breathed in and out before continuing. "I...if I look at Salem, I think, 'that is mom', and feel a daughter/mother love for her. I look at Rose and I think, 'that is a friend', and I feel a comrade love for her. But...Grimm don't feel the 'husband/wife' sort of love. It's just...not something I can feel." Armora looked at Ryn. "I'm sorry, but...I can't return the love you feel for me."

Ryn thought that over for a long moment. "You also said that Grimm don't feel fear, didn't you? It would be kind of unfair for you to have all the bad emotions but none of the good ones, right?"

Armora was lost for words. Ryn stepped forward, then kissed Armora on the cheek. "How about you give it a try and see if you feel anything?" She extended a hand to Armora. 

With a sigh, Armora took Ryn's hand. "Just...don't be too upset, okay?"

"I'm not one to waste too much time crying over a break-up," Ryn said with a grin. The two strolled to the center of the room, and began dancing. 

Rose suddenly clapped a hand to her head. "Oh my gods, wait just a minute, Mom, Dad, I found something that you'll want to see." Without waiting for a reply, Rose dashed off. She did not have her mother's speed Semblance, but made good time anyway getting back to her room, pulling out a binder, and rushing back to the party. 

"My old photo album?" Ruby asked as Rose handed it to her, panting. Ruby hefted it. She opened it and began flipping through, but stopped quickly. "Teams RWBY and JNPR, in the full," Ruby whispered. 

"Wow," Nora said, looking over. "I look tiny."

"You...kinda do," Toro agreed, rubbing his head. 

Ruby touched one specific part of the picture. 

"Who is she?" Rose asked. 

"Pyrrha Nikos. Old friend." Ruby smiled. "Thanks. I'd wondered where this went." Ruby closed it. "I'll show it to Yang and Blake later. Hey, where are those two?" Rose pointed over to where Blake and Yang danced. She looked past it. "Hey, that's Ryn and Armora dancing."

"Huh." Ruby surveyed the party, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Does this remind you two of a different party we went to a while back?"

"Actually, it kind of does," Nora said. "Except Jaune's not in a dress."

"In a what?" Rose asked. 

"Uh--it was...I lost a bet, kay?" Jaune said. 

"What kind of bet did you make?" Rose asked. 

"A bad one," Jaune said, hanging over. 

"Well, something tells me you're a better dancer in boy's clothes," Ruby said. She took Jaune's hand, gave a parting nod to Ren and Nora, then went off onto the dance floor. 

"I'm going to go find Robert," Rose said, then walked off. She gave a parting glance to Ryn and Armora before wandering off. 

"So...are we going to tell them about it?" Jaune asked Ruby quietly. Dancers moved around them, moving in sync to the music--a slow tune, thankfully. Ruby's leg gave a few pulses of pain in protest, but she ignored it. "Tell them about what?" she asked. 

"You know. You said you were getting better, but I noticed that you are _not_," Jaune said. 

"I'm not going to spend my last days trying desperately to fix the unfixable," Ruby said. She sighed. "Nor am I going to worry anyone else about it. Please, Jaune. Just...don't mention it. I've got it handled, kay?"

"You don't," Jaune pointed out. "You are and always have been a terrible liar, Ruby."

Ruby sighed again. "Please, Jaune."

"Fine. But Ruby, I really think you need to tell someone. Oscar...or Salem herself...one of those two might be able to--"

"No," Ruby interrupted. "I've accepted my fate, Jaune. I'm not going to spend what little time I have left with my family fighting and struggling. I'm going to spend it with my family."

She looked Jaune in the eye, wiping the single lone tear way from her own eyes. "Jaune. Do you understand?"

"No. But I respect your choice." He sighed. 

"Happy?" Ryn asked, sitting at a table. 

"...more than expected," Armora replied. 

Ryn raised an eyebrow. She poured herself a glass of punch. 

"Ryn, I'm sorry, I truly am, I just--"

"Save it," Ryn said. "For now, I just want to spend some time with you. Tomorrow, we can see if you still don't feel anything."

Armora leaned back in her chair, quiet. She looked over the party. "Hey, look. Cinder...she's dancing with that Mercury guy."

"Are those two a thing?" 

"Dunno," Armora said. "I think it's just...a fun thing?"

"Probably," Ryn said. "So...I was wanting to ask...how are...you and Professor Pines?"

Armora glared at her. 

"Okay. Okay then." Ryn thought about that for a minute. "I've...butted heads with my dad a lot in the past. It...got ugly a few times. Ugly enough for me to go to school in Vale instead of Vacuo. I...I often regret not talking to him as much as I feel like I should do."

"Both our dads are different," Armora replied. "Mine's a liar. He's...he's got a lot of problems." She looked around the room, finding her adopted father in conversation with Salem. 

"I'm sure he just wants to be with his daughter," Ryn said. "I've...been trying to get back in touch with my dad, ya know? Cause family is family."

"I don't have a family," Armora snapped. 

"Yeah, you do. Family doesn't mean blood relations--it means they've been kind to you. They've taught you, raised you. I'm trying to be more friendly with my dad because I know that he loves me. I know Oscar loves you."

Armora looked down and away.

Ryn looked up, smiling. "Go on. Go talk to him." She turned back to Armora. She was gone. Ryn looked up in time to see Armora walking right up to Oscar. 

"Hey, Dad," Armora said. Oscar looked up, a frown on his face. "Ah. What did you need?"

"I...I...oh for crying out loud." She rubbed her head. "Look, I just...ugh. What am I doing?" She took a deep breath. "We both lied to each other. A lot. We both betrayed and deceived each other. Let's just...call a truce. Both put away the lies. Kay?" She extended a hand. 

Oscar shook her hand. "Deal," he said. "I never meant to lie to you; I simply meant to keep my past mistakes away from my new family."

Armora smiled. "Oh, thank the gods. I was worried you were going to say no, and then it would just be awkward."

"Honestly, I thought the same," Oscar said with a chuckle. "But to you."

Ryn's statement stung at Armora. _"I know Oscar loves you."_ "Heh."

"Also, you went with Ryn?" Oscar asked. 

"She asked, and, well, convinced me to give her a chance." Armora shrugged. "And who knows? If I can feel fear, maybe I can feel love, too."

Oscar nodded. "Fear and love, they aren't too different."

"Uh...I've only felt one of 'em, and only once, but I know for a fact that they are way different."

"Think about it," Oscar said. "Both are emotions that can relate to people. Both can either push you to them...or away from them. Both are incredibly helpful--love, for basic day-to-day interactions, and fear, for keeping you away from anything too dangerous." Oscar chuckled. 

"Well, I'm...gonna go on now," Armora said. "Nice talk." She walked off. Oscar smiled after her. 

"She is so cute," Salem said with a quiet "Squee!"

"Just don't say that within her earshot," Oscar said. 

"Everything's going well," Armora said to Ryn once they met back up.

A new song was playing now. Armora extended a hand. Ryn took it with a smile, and the two wandered onto the dance floor. "Ashlynn actually managed to pick one of the two guys who asked her out. Sunny's having a blast with Robert. And I saw Patricia and Rasmond a few times--they look happy."

"And you managed to convince me to get back and make up with my dad," Armora said. "Cinder is also having a good time. Professors Yang and Blake snuck out some time ago. Ren and Nora are dancing. I did manage to figure out why Weiss is called 'Ice Queen', too."

"Ouch," Ryn said. "And Ruby's hurt leg has not kept her from dancing."

"Good for her," Armora said. She smiled, though she knew Ryn couldn't see it under the scarf. "Dancing is, as I've noticed, pretty fun. It's nice to move slowly once in a while."

"Is that why you use a heavy weapon and defensive strategies? Cause you like moving slowly?" Ryn asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Hey, I'm pretty fast with that broadsword," Armora defended. 

"How did you get your name?" Ryn asked as they continued their dance. 

"A name is just a name. I've never cared nor asked how I got mine," Armora replied. "Though I believe it was a suggestion from Weiss."

"Have you talked to any of them a lot?"

"Not really. I've...mostly stayed away from other people," Armora answered. 

"You shouldn't," Ryn said. "People are great."

"Some. Saying all people are great is like saying all people are bad--except the one makes you look naive, while the other makes you look like an ass," Armora pointed out. 

Ryn laughed. Armora hadn't heard her laugh before. "Fair point, Armora. Fair point."

Armora smiled. Then, much to her surprise, Ryn reached up, pulled her scarf slightly aside, and kissed her. Ryn smiled up at Armora's face. Ryn was slightly shorter than average, but Armora stood taller than most people. Armora smiled down at Ryn. 

_What the hell_, she thought. _T__o giving love a chance._

Sunlight streamed in through the window. Ryn shielded her eyes, her head swimming. "Oh..." she groaned. She looked up at Armora--she'd taken off her scarf, and had swapped back into armor. "Sunday morning, so we've got the day off, which is good, cause I'm certain there was something alcoholic in that punch."

"It's punch, of course there was," Ryn groaned. She closed her eyes. 

Armora sat down on the bed next to her. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Ryn sat up straight in her bed. "You?"

"Feel exactly like I did last night," Armora replied, "but, still willing to give it a try."

"Get a room," Rose called from her own bed. Armora leaned over, shoved her onto the floor, then moved back into her seated position. "Seriously, though, Ryn, you look like you're about to vomit."

"That's...a distinct possibility."

"Want me to get a bucket?" Rose asked, peeking up from beside her bed. 

"...bucket?"

"Yeah."

"Forgive her, she knows not about that which she speaks," Ashlynn stated. She looked at Ryn. "Well. I'm tired, and my legs are sore. That means the dance was a success, right?"

"Yeah," Ryn agreed with a chuckle. She smiled, eyes closed. "Total success."


	12. Saviors and Monsters

**Many years ago...**

"Hey, Weiss," Ruby said. 

Weiss looked up from her book. Team RWBY sat in Beacon's library, mostly reading--Yang played video games with the sound down, Blake leaned against her, watching over her shoulder. Ruby set down her book. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"

"Hmm? Oh, there's a lot of them, I can't really pick one," Weiss said. "They're all pretty good. The Shallow Sea, the Girl in the Tower, and, of course, the Four Seasons--everyone hears that one."

"I found a big collection of them, and I found this one again," Ruby said. She turned the book to Weiss. "_The Nameless Blade, _or_ the False Savior_."

"Oh, yeah. That one. I...that one is not my favorite," Weiss said. 

"It's interesting," Ruby said. 

"What's it about, again? I remember...something about a sword?"

"Yup. The Nameless Blade itself. The first half of the fairy tale talks about what a cruel and despicable warrior the guy holding the sword is, but the second half talks about how great and kind the guy holding the sword. Some people think its talking about two different wielders, but what I realized..." Ruby smiled proudly. "Same guy. Its the _descriptions _that are different."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked. 

"Like, there's this big war going on, right? Each description is given by someone on a different side of the war--the one side sees him as a horrible monster, comparing him to a Grimm, but the other side talks about how noble and chivalrous he is--cuz he's their hero."

"Huh." Weiss looked at Ruby. Ruby was looking at the book with a contemplative smile on her face. "It makes me wonder..."

"Wonder what?"

"We see someone like Roman Torchwick and see him as evil, but maybe, to someone out there, he's as noble as any Huntsman." Ruby looked up at Weiss. "You saw the White Fang as scum of the earth, Blake saw them as misguided. The White Fang is clearly noble to the Faunus who joined."

"I...I'm not sure how I feel about that," Weiss replied. "Roman steals from and attacks people. There can't be anyone who sees him as a chivalrous warrior."

"You'd have said the same about the White Fang a while back," Ruby stated. "Perhaps...perhaps there really isn't pure good and pure evil. It just depends upon whose side you're looking at."

"I suppose you're kinda right," Weiss said. "But I do think that some people are just evil."

"Like who?" Ruby asked. 

"Cardin?" Blake suggested. 

"Ah--" Ruby opened and closed her mouth for a minute. "I'm...I'm sure someone sees him as a noble...as a likable person."

Everyone laughed. 

**Present day...**

Velvet Scarlatina walked into the Beacon Library. 

"Why are we here again?" Coco Adel asked. 

"Ryn asked about the Nameless Blade--remember that old fairy tale? I was wanting to look around and see if I could find a copy in the library," Velvet said. She looked to the right. "Hey, cool. A suit of armor."

"Nice cape," Coco commented. "And helmet spike. Anyway, again, why am I here?"

"Because I might need to move a lot of books around, and Yatsu was spending some time with our daughter," Velvet replied. "I didn't want to bother him. Those two...don't get off too well, it's a rare scene when they're getting along, but I really wanted to get the book, and Ryn mentioned it when we asked about her getting into fights, and it was suspicious, and I want to see if its alright." She gave Coco a pouty face. "Please?"

Coco gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Just to be clear, I will not read that thing. It gave me a headache last time."

"Fair enough."

Thirty minutes later, Velvet set a thick, heavy volume on the table. "_Sylvia's Big Book of Fairy Tales_," Coco read. "Hey, it doesn't list the author."

"It's in the title," Velvet replied. 

"It doesn't list a last name," Coco said. 

"Does it matter?" Velvet asked. Coco shrugged, and Velvet opened to the table of contents. "Let's see...the Maidens...Shallow Sea...the Sleeping One...ah-ha! Nameless Blade...or the False Savior, page...six hundred and fifty-two." Velvet skimmed through the book quickly. "Here we go."

"It's pretty short," Coco commented when Velvet finished. 

"It's complicated," Velvet replied. "That makes up for it." She bit her lip. "But...it doesn't give any answers about what Ryn was talking about."

"Oh for the love of--" Coco slapped her forehead. "Look, Velvet, maybe she was just curious and picked a poor time to bring it up?"

"While we were here, Ruby was lying to everyone and fighting Roman Torchwick behind everyone's back. I'm trying to make sure that my daughter isn't lying to me," Velvet snapped. "I found that conversation suspicious. I just want to make sure she's not lying to me."

"Perhaps you could try talking to her about it?" Yatsuhashi asked. 

"Well, yeah, but if she is lying, then--wait, when did you get here?" Velvet spun around. 

"While you were reading," Ryn snapped, folding her arms over her chest. "And did you really...just..." Her expression of anger faded, and she looked past Velvet and Coco. "Is that...a suit of armor?"

Velvet turned and looked at the statue. "Um...yeah, like the one in the doorway. Exactly like it, actually, except for the pose."

"What one in the doorway?" Yatsuhashi asked. 

"Whaddya mean? It was about your size, you had to have noticed it," Coco pointed out. 

Ryn searched outwards, using her Aura to look around for others. The Auras of her parents and Coco shone right beside her. The bug crawling across the ceiling. The bird perched on a window sill. But, the suit of armor was...nothing. It was not only soulless, it was the absence of a soul. The same thing she got when she looked at Armora. 

"So...um...this might be a bad time to mention it, but...our team leader was attacked by some guy who Professor Pines called the False Savior," Ryn confessed. Everyone looked at her. "And...he could camouflage himself. And I think that might be him, right there."

"How do you people keep doing that?" the suit of armor asked. The coloring suddenly shifted, and the gold and black figure stepped up, stabbing his sword into the ground. The Nameless Blade looked at them. "How did you find me? I still haven't found out how Armora does it. No one else can do it."

Ryn took a step back, instinctively reaching for her weapon. Which wasn't there. Velvet pulled out her camera and Coco pulled out her purse. "Who are you?" Coco asked. "And why the hell do you call yourself the False Savior?"

"I don't call myself the False Savior," he replied. "Humans call me that. And it isn't accurate--I am a savior. Just not for them."

"What are you doing here?" Ryn asked. 

"The Grimm destroyed this school. Ozma rebuilt it. We took it as a challenge." The Blade looked at her, then extended one hand. A small, golden light came from his palm, forming a small, floating orb of light. With a flick of his wrist, the light dispersed outwards. 

A high-pitched ringing sounded through the school. The windows shattered. Ryn covered her ears. After a moment, the ringing stopped. Then, a loud, echoing roar sounded. Multiple times. 

The Blade began striding forward. "Tell me. Where is Ozma? Where is Armora?"

"You stay away from her!" Ryn said. 

The Blade looked at her. "No. She betrayed her own kind. I cannot let that slide."

"Betrayed her--what are you talking about?" Velvet asked. "Ryn?"

Coco stepped forward, pushing a button on her purse. It opened up, turning into a massive Gatling gun. Coco pointed it at the Blade, grinned, and opened fire, activating her Semblance.

The Blade held out one hand, creating a golden shield of light. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of it. Coco stopped firing, shoving the table she'd been pushed into backwards. She took off her sunglasses, looking at the Blade with a dumbfounded expression. "Okay then. That's a first."

The Blade dispersed the shield, then rushed forward. Until a bookshelf was thrown into him. It toppled, landing on top of him. Armora stepped into view, broadsword out. "Everyone alright?" she asked. She looked at Ryn. Then she pulled the scarf off her head and threw it the side. "Go get Oscar. And Salem, if possible."

The bookshelf flew into the air, smashing to pieces against the roof as the Blade stood up. He turned to Armora. "Ah. The turncoat arrives." Armora turned to him. 

Velvet took a step forward, camera out. "Go!" Armora cried, glaring at them. Then she rushed the Blade. She was fast--faster than Ryn had thought. The two moved in a blur, swords rarely meeting for more than a second. Every block was followed up with an attack. Every jab followed with another. 

Ryn put a hand on her mother's shoulder. "She said to go. We should trust her."

Velvet was clearly unhappy about it, but stepped back grudgingly. "Ryn, after this, we are going to have a very long talk."

Ryn flinched. "Yeah."

A high-pitched ringing sounded through the cafeteria. The students all covered their ears, confused. Then the roaring came. Several walls shattered, Grimm leaping down--Beowulves, Ursas, and a few Lampreys. 

Ashlynn wore her weapon, though, and Sunny Rose always had her sword on her. Some of the other students were armed, and pulled out their weapons. 

"What's going on? Where did these guys come from?" Sunny asked. 

"Who knows? Let's figure that out later!" Ashlynn replied. "Where are the teachers?"

The ground began rumbling. Then, something smashed through the floor nearby, sending a table flying. A large shape, black as night, with a bulbous body and a small head coming off the top. Almost a dozen arms came off of it, each one thin and wiry, ending in three claws. Its head had a sideways mouth, running from its forehead to its chin, with one eye on each side of it. The thing laughed, a loud, echoing sound. "Who among you holds power?" it cried. "Who among you is strong?" It looked around itself, eyes gleaming. Ashlynn tossed a dust crystal, sending it flying at the Grimm. It hit the Thing and exploded. "Do you hold power, Daughter of Fall?" it asked, looking at her. 

Ashlynn stepped backwards, looking at Sunny. Sunny rushed forward. Several of the Thing's hands shot forward. Sunny slid beneath the hands, and as she passed the Thing, engaged her Semblance. A familiar feeling of power flooded through her. 

Blake had been teaching her restraint. But this thing didn't need restraint. She briefly thought back to Yang's story. But she quickly shoved those thoughts aside. Restraint was useful. But now...now was not the time for restraint. With a cry of berserker rage, she slashed out at the Thing. Blood sprayed outwards. The Thing was cut in half, both halves leaning towards a different side. A stunned silence filled the room. Sunny panted, sheathing her sword. Her Aura flickered around her--she'd used too much. 

The two halves slammed back into each other, reattaching themselves. The Thing leaned backwards, looking down at her, still smiling. "You hold power--power you don't even know about." 

Sunny's jaw dropped. She stepped backwards, then fell to one knee. She looked up at the Great Thing--she hadn't thought about anything being that powerful. It had been severed clean in half. But...it had reattached the two halves. Perfectly. No trace remained of her attack. She stared at it. The Thing's twisted smile sickened her. It stretched out one hand, then smashed down at her. 

Someone picked her up and carried her out of the way. Ruby set Sunny down, her eyes closed, hood shadowing her face. 

"Mom?" Sunny looked up at her. 

"Go. Grab your friends. Get out of here."

"Mom?"

"Ruby!" Yang called out, rushing into the room, Blake and Weiss followed behind her. 

Ruby stood up tall, eyes still closed. "You've always been by my side. Always been there for me." She sighed. "But please. Just once, let me fight alone."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Sunny asked. 

Ruby leaned down next to Sunny. "People change," she said quietly. "I don't want you to see what I've changed into." She opened her eyes. Sunny gasped. Ruby's silver eyes had changed to a deep red, veins bright. "Please."

Sunny nodded slowly. She stood up, then began walking away. 

"Ruby--" Yang began, but Ruby cut her off with a look. A sharp glare. Ruby turned and walked towards the Thing. Yang stood for a second, then called out, "Everyone! Get out of here!" She gave one last look to Ruby before running out of the room with everyone else. 

"Is she going to be alright?" Sunny asked her.

Yang looked at her. "I don't know," she said honestly. 

"You...you are not supposed to be," the Thing said, leering over her. "What are you?"

"A monster," Ruby answered quietly. 

Armora slammed downward with her sword. The Savior blocked, parrying and shoving Armora back. Armora rushed forward. The Savior held out one hand, creating a golden forcefield. Armora's sword bounced harmlessly off, and she stumbled backwards. "Do you think killing me will change anything?" the Savior asked. "Do you think the Grimm will stop their war? No." He stepped forward, slashing at Armora. Armora blocked, then jumped back as a second sword swung at her. The sword made out of golden light dispersed in the Savior's hand. "I serve my people. But killing the servant does not kill the master. No, the master hires new servants."

"Why can't you just stop?" Armora demanded. "Stop the fighting. Stop the war."

"You want me to give up?" the Savior asked. "To lay down my sword? My oaths? My _promises_?" He waved his free hand, shooting a volley of golden spikes from thin air. Armora jumped backwards, out of the way. "No. Not for you, not for anyone, Armora."

Armora leapt at him. As he swung his sword around, she shoved off the ground, flying over him, then threw her scarf in his face. He reached up to grab it as she landed behind him, then slammed herself into his back. The Savior was knocked off balance, stumbling backwards as Armora attacked with her sword and stinger. He parried her attacks, then rushed and grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her off the ground, slamming her into a bookshelf, which cracked. He raised his sword. "Goodbye, and sorry."

A small, blue glyph appeared on his blade. He looked at hit, then Ryn, falling sideways, kicked his sword. The sword flung out of his hands, and she wrapped her grappling hook around his neck. Crying out, he stumbled backwards, grabbing the cord as Ryn landed on his back. "Get off me!" the Savior cried. 

"Don't...hurt...her!" Ryn cried, tightening the cord. Armora fell to the ground, gasping for breath. She picked up her fallen broadsword. The Savior achieved a firm grip on the cord, and his hands glowed gold. The cord snapped, and he threw Ryn off his back. Pulling the cord off his neck, he looked over to where his sword lay on the ground. 

Oscar planted a foot on the sword. "You," he snarled, "are never going to hurt my students again." Oscar strode forward, attacking with his cane. The Savior conjured a golden sword and blocked, but like the other sword, it disappeared after a second. As the Savior stepped backwards, Ryn pulled out her dagger, switched it to a pistol, and fired at the Savior's head. The Savior stumbled back, and finally Armora rushed forward. The Savior caught her sword between his two hands, but she dropped it. She leapt up and over his shoulder, grabbing him in a headlock. Then, she plunged her stinger down the eye hole. 

The Savior's scream of pain was perhaps the most satisfying thing Armora had ever heard. He still had the presence of mind to use her own broadsword to cut off the stinger, but as she jumped down and out of reach, she felt satisfied. And in pain. But, mostly satisfied. 

The Savior clutched his face. Black smoke and blood leaked out from between his fingers. Armora reached over and picked up the Savior's golden sword. "Hey, this thing's actually got nice weight." She swung it around, one-handed. "And it's light." The Savior looked up, then reached for Armora's dropped broadsword. Oscar leapt in front of him and bashed his face with his cane. Ryn jumped, kicking the Savior in the face, shooting him. The bullets did nothing to the armor, but the Savior stumbled even farther backwards. 

"I don't want you to stop," Armora said, walking forward. She glared at him. "I just want you to get out of my life!" She rushed forward, attacking. The Savior tried blocking with a forcefield, but the sword cleaved right through it. Whether a property of the sword or a failure on the Savior's part, Armora didn't know or care. The sword plunged deep into the Savior's chest, punching through the armor and stabbing into the ground behind him. Armora took a step back as the Savior grabbed the sword hilt. "Ah. Ahhh..." Smoke leaked through every crack in the armor, and then the armor itself shriveled and blackened, crumbling to dust. A massive cloud of black smoke spread out of the room, and then the sword faded away, crumbling to dust as well. 

The False Savior had died. 


	13. The Clean Up of Beacon

The rest of the invading Grimm went down quickly. Ashlynn and Rose met up with Ryn and Armora in the infirmary afterwards, where Salem was again inspecting another missing tail. 

"You know, you are beginning to remind me of another person I knew with a scorpion tail," she commented. "Just because it _can_ be replaced doesn't mean it _should_."

Yang opened the door, walking in. Behind her came Blake and Weiss, Ren, Jaune, and Nora, as well as Teams CFVY and TRPR. 

"Is this everyone?" Oscar asked. 

"Think so," Yang replied. 

"And...Ruby?"

"Gone," Yang said with a shrug. "I couldn't find her or the Thing she was fighting. I...humans leave corpses, so I know she walked out of that room. I just don't know where."

"What was all of this?" Velvet asked. "I mean, why? Where? What..."

"Some Grimm are capable of thought," Oscar said vaguely. "Including Armora, and one called the False Savior, who, for the good of all Grimm, saw it best to take down the school."

"Ahem," Armora said. She raised an eyebrow. "No secrets. Tell them everything."

Oscar sighed. "There's a lot to explain." He cocked his head. "But I think I know of someone who can do it properly." Silence. "Yes, I'm talking about you. Yeah, get out here."

Velvet and Coco shared a look. 

"It'll make sense in a second," Yang promised. 

Oscar glowed green. Taking a deep breath, he tapped his cane against the ground in front of him. "Good afternoon. I am Professor Ozpin."

"...the FUCK?" Coco said, taking off her sunglasses. 

Ozpin explained a lot of things to them--the truth behind his past, his reincarnation and silver eyed warriors, about the Maidens and the Relics, and about Salem. 

"That year when we...well, 'fixed' everything?" Blake said. "Ruby used her eyes on Salem, and that...well, it fixed her."

Salem shrugged. "Honestly, I don't remember trying to wipe out humanity, but it hardly surprises me."

"But what about Ruby?" Velvet interrupted. 

"You're guess is as good as mine," Jaune said. "I mean, that night--the same night we found Armora, actually--she just sort of...felt different. Like she'd aged a hundred years. At first, I just thought...well, just thought she'd aged. Matured." He folded his arms over his chest. "Over time, I began to realize something else was wrong. I know she knew what was wrong. She never told me."

Armora leaned back on her hospital bed. "I...kinda remember that day, actually. The day I was born--I guess. My first memory started with me, floating in a basket in that lake, crying out for breath. I...I remember her face."

Oscar sipped a cup of coffee. "There were a lot of things Ruby didn't mention, not to anyone."

"It's honestly kind of freaky," Weiss commented. "I would never have put her as a secret keeper."

"What's that?" Yang asked Sunny. Sunny had picked up the photo album. 

"I...gave this to her last night. She put it in her coat. She...she knew she was leaving this morning." Sunny choked. "She...she left this for us." She turned the page, sobbing. 

Armora cried out in pain. "Close that blasted book!" she snapped. 

Oscar strode over and grabbed it, staring at the blank page Sunny had turned to. 

"Oh my gods," Salem whispered. 

"What is it?" Yang asked. 

"Magic," Oscar whispered. "A lot of it. Someone spent a lot of time enchanting this thing." He stared at the page. "How did you do that, Ruby?"

He lifted it up for everyone to see. The page had been blank, but now red text had appeared in the center of the page. 

"'Nameless Blade, or False Savior?'" Blake read. "Huh?"

"The story of the Nameless Blade?" Weiss asked. "The old fairy tale?"

"Old and dead," Armora said dryly. 

"Oh, right. He was an actual guy," Weiss said. "Wonder if we're going to ever hear a fairy tale that isn't true."

"A lot has happened," Oscar said, rising. "A lot we need to figure out. Let's all try and get some sl..." He trailed off, then pulled open the window curtains. Sunlight streamed into the room. "Shit, we can't go to sleep now, it's still daytime."

He looked at everyone with a weary smile, then took a sip of coffee. "Good day. I'm off to bed." He strode out of the room, Salem right after him.

"Sunny," Jaune said. 

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Promise me you won't go looking for Ruby," Jaune said, kneeling next to her. 

"What? No! I need to--"

Jaune grabbed her shoulder. "Her last request was to let her fight alone. She was worried about hurting you--that much I know. So, there is not a chance in hell I'd let you anywhere near her until we find out more about the situation. And as for that--" He pointed to the album. "I'll give that to Oscar, for safekeeping, until we know what it is." He rose. "You've all got a lot to learn about combat. That's...that's kind of why you're at Beacon. It may seem like you need to rush up, to go fight the evil that's coming up--honestly, sometimes you just gotta take it slow." He tucked the album under his arm, smiled at them, and left with Ren and Nora.

"We're...going to go talk to Oscar some more," Coco said. "I feel...like we need to have everything gone over again."

"We'll...let you be," Yang said. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to let us know." She and Blake exited the room. Weiss strode over to them. "You're doing good just like you are," she said. She gave them a respectful nod, then turned and walked out of the room. 

"So...what do we do now?" Ashlynn asked. 

Ryn came over and wrapped her arms around Armora. "Come on. What's the plan?"

Armora looked over to Sunny. Sunny looked back at her. "Well...for now, we probably need to sit tight," she said. "Rest up. Train some more. But, when we're done..." She looked at Sunny. "We're finding her. I don't care if we have to go through hell and back, we are finding her, and finally getting some damn answers. Got it, Sunny?"

Sunny nodded. "I just hope she's okay."

Rocks skidded from beneath her feet. She slid down the cave wall, hitting the ground with several rocks hitting her. She rose, stumbling across the room. There was no light, but she could see. Somehow. But her eyes hurt a lot, and she didn't want to open them. She wiped away the wet from her eyes--blood. Her eyes were bleeding again. She stumbled forward, and found herself wading in water. 

Ruby opened her eyes, staring at her reflection in the silver lake. Her skin had turned a pale gray, the veins dark and red in her skin. Her eyes were now a deep, rich red. She stared at her reflection for a long, long time. Then she laughed. 

_Sometimes a story doesn't end the way you want it too. Sometimes the heroes don't get what they want. Sometimes it hardly feels like an end. But no that no story truly ends--it just continues somewhere else. Sometimes, you'll have to wait a bit, sometimes, it will end the same way--questions unanswered, mysteries unsolved. But know that this story does have more coming. More to listen to. More to hear. More to believe. _

**Sylvia**


End file.
